GPSU’s Yarde faces questions over union’s effectiveness

Oct 28, 2017 News

… as options weighed on Govt.’s payout offer
The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) is weighing several options, but prefers to be guided by members on the matter of strike action in response to Government’s final offer of a $3.5 billion payout to public servants for 2017.

GPSU President Patrick Yarde at yesterday’s press briefing.

Union President Patrick Yarde broke his silence to speak with reporters yesterday after he claimed to have deliberately avoided the media since government made the offer public on October 19, last.
The union was hoping that the negotiations with Government would lead to the completion of wages and salaries negotiations for 2016, improved allowances, in-scale increments for public servants and agreement on the de-bunching of salaries currently stuck at the minimum of the pay bands.
Yarde accused the David Granger-led administration of adopting a similar take-it-or-leave approach to salary negotiations, pointing out that the union was ready for negotiations at the start of the year.
According to Yarde, the union it seems is confronted with the same attitude to public servants wages and salaries that obtained when the office of Finance Minister was held by Bharrat Jagdeo, at which time the current Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, held the position of budget advisor.
“The APNU/AFC administration negotiating team has opted to follow the pattern of imposing a take-it-or-leave-it Christmas handout…it persists. The fact is that we are faced with a conspiracy to deny the public servants the merited and overdue benefits,” Yarde stated.
It is believed that the GPSU, which has been facing internal dissent, may find it difficult to organise the membership to protest Government-imposed salary increases.
Yarde has a different view. He asserted that “the Government stands guilty of taking advantage of the responsible posture towards the development of the country, which the Union and its members have historically taken loyally and very seriously, and we are feeling betrayed”.
Reporters questioned whether the union can galvanize the support of the membership against the Government’s offer.
“In this union we have never had to pull out all our members to be effective. I wouldn’t pretend there are some areas in this union right now that there is a difference, but those are not strategic. Check all the actions we have taken very effectively, and see if in the strategic areas we have a problem,” Yarde stated.
The hesitation to spell out the union’s next move and the possibility of strike action, Yarde noted, was due to the fact that the executive must consult with the membership first.
“A union doesn’t have an army, it has members, and when you take strike action you don’t get paid….there is a sacrifice members have got to make, and we took a conscious decision that we will not go down that road to have members losing pay every time they got to get something,” Yarde said.
Government announced 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.
THE GOVT’S OFFER
*8 % increase for persons earning between $55,555 to $99,999;
*6 % increase 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
*0.5% increase for persons earning $800,000 to $1 million.

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