Public Servants’ wage proposals…Meat for the boys, bones for the workers

Aug 30, 2016 News

– says PPP on Govt.’s final offer
“The whole sordid affair of salary increases under the Granger administration is clearly another manifestation of meat for the boys, bones for the workers.”

PPP General Secretary, Clement Rohee

This is the view of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) on the proposed one to 10 percent salary increases by the coalition government.
Speaking at the party’s weekly press conference, General Secretary Clement Rohee cited the announcement by the APNU+AFC coalition administration of a one to 10 percent increase in wages and salaries for public servants.
He said that the PPP has also taken note of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU)’s holding position on the “final offer” by the government.
Rohee further went on to say that “surprisingly, the announcement, in keeping with convention, was not done jointly between the government and the Union.”
He posited that on the contrary, “while there appears to have been an agreement to jointly announce the decision, because the Union did not support the increases, government went ahead unilaterally to announce its ‘final offer’ while the Union claimed that it will meet at a later date to consider government’s ‘final offer’.”
Rohee further accused the GPSU of not standing up for its members, saying; “Knowing the track record of the Guyana Public Service Union, it will most likely go along with the government’s “final offer” on the basis of some lame excuse. This will be tantamount to another betrayal of the workers’ interests.”
Rohee added that the GPSU “must come clean” in the interest of transparency and accountability, and explain to its members the “true state of affairs with respect to the outcome of the negotiations, and how the ‘final offer’ was arrived at.”
He called on the current administration to explain to Guyanese the total cost of the one to 10 percent increase in relation to the public declaration by Prime Minister Nagamootoo at the 2016 May Day Rally.
Nagamootoo had declared that government had set aside $43.8 billion and $6.63 billion in benefits and allowances in the 2016 budget for increases in wages and salaries for public servants.
He further pointed to APNU+AFC’s 2015 election manifesto which had said a twenty (20) percent would be given to public servants. Rohee asked if government’s “final offer” is reflective of the manifesto’s promise.
“This is another blow to government workers and it comes as a stark reminder of the humongous increase in salaries by 50 per cent to Cabinet Ministers” Rohee said.

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