Public Servants wage negotiations…FITUG disgusted with Govt.’s ‘insulting’ final offer

Sep 03, 2016 News

…calls for tax-free overtime in public, private sector
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) has registered its disgust with the final offer made by the APNU-AFC coalition government to the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU).
To express its support for the nation’s public servants, FITUG issued a statement to the media saying that “the government has betrayed its ‘rosy’ manifesto and has proposed an offer which comes at a time when the ‘good life for all’ seems to be now limited to the Ministers who benefited from the steep remuneration increases they received not too long ago”.
FITUG said that it will continue to stand wholeheartedly in solidarity with the GPSU and the Guyana Teachers’ Union.
The statement said that the government practised several delay tactics before dealing with the matter of increased wages head on. The wait for the Commission of Inquiry into the Public Service has been identified as one such tactic employed by the state.
In relation to payments made to workers of this nation, the FITUG commended the government for announcing that tax-free overtime would be granted to bauxite workers. However, the Union wants the same to be granted to workers in the private and public sectors.
According to the Union, a lot needs to be done to address the wages issue since “poverty robs the worker and his or her family of their self-esteem”.
“Our situation calls not for a nominal wage, but a ‘real wage’ which can adequately cover the mounting cost of living.”
The Union said that the Coalition Government has a duty to implement a wage policy that would effectively address this reality in the interest of all its members.
On the recent televised show “The Public Interest”, President David Granger said that the 10% increase is all the government can afford at the moment. He said, “It is not unjust. It is perhaps what can be afforded at the moment.”
Granger said that the coalition government did not anticipate the volume of indebtedness of the Guyana Sugar Corporation and the fall in prices of other national commodities such as bauxite, gold and timber.
He noted too that the social sector has taken quite a bit of the country’s revenue. The President said that his government remains open to hold a discourse with the GPSU in an effort to create a more efficient public service.
“I am not saying that the Public servants do not deserve more. We did everything that is possible and entered the negotiations in good faith. We have not discontinued negotiations, but that is the final offer for now. Because of the preparations for next year’s budget, we need to tidy up this business before the last quarter.”
The GPSU had described the Government’s final offer as absurd, since the issues of de-bunching and allowances were not addressed.
The government had proposed that persons earning below $100,000 would receive 5.5%; those earning $100,000 to $300,000 would receive 5%; persons earning $300,000 to $800,000 would receive 4.5%; those earning $800,000 to $1,000,000 would receive 2% and persons earning over a $1,000,000 would receive 1%. The below $100,000 percentage offer of 5.5% was later increased to 6%.

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