FITUG wants more for public servants

Oct 26, 2017 News

The Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Guyana (FITUG) is of the view that public servants are being given an increase that can be deemed as ‘insulting’.

President of FITUG, Carvil Duncan

This was one of the concerns raised by FITUG on Tuesday last at a Press Conference that was hosted at the Federation’s head quarters.
According to the President of FITUG, Carvil Duncan, “All that was needed is the negotiators to sit down and work around it to see what solution they can arrive at that everybody can be happy.”
He said the imposition of eight percent is ‘bad in principle’ since the persons that are in more need of the money will be handed less. Duncan pointed out that the demand of the Guyana Public Service Union was for a mere 10%.
In speaking of an increase, the representatives agreed that the administration does not respect the needs of its people.
The federation noted that the increase is highly unacceptable and is an insult, since the Government in raising the salaries of its workers, raises the cost of living as well.
The Government recently made its final offer to the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), declaring plans to increase the new minimum wage to $60,000, which is an increase of $5,555, retroactive from January 2017.
Some 14,000 public servants will benefit from the increases which will cost Government approximately $3.5 billion.
Negotiations with the GPSU reportedly began about a month ago, but no proposals were put forward by the Union, whose representatives said that negotiations for 2016 were incomplete.
On Monday, October 16, the two sides met to discuss wage increases; however, the offer put forward by the Government was rejected.
An increase of 8% is slated for persons earning between $55,555 to $99,999, 6% for persons earning between $100,000 to $299,999, 5% increase for persons earning $500,000 to $699,999, 2% increase for persons earning $700,000 to $799,000 and 0.5% increase for persons earning $800,000 to $1 million.

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