Retroactive salary increase for teachers, other public servants by year-end - Pres. Ali

Retroactive salary increase for teachers, other public servants by year-end – Pres. Ali

Aug 03, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali has announced that teachers and other public servants will be eligible, before year-end, for retroactive salary increases. “Let me assure you that the public servants will receive salary increases before the end of the year and it will be retroactive,” he said.
Ali shrugged off questions about when his government will give in to several requests by the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) for wage and salary negotiations.
The GPSU has accused government of violating an agreement it has with government as well as applicable International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.
“We have to be careful and my appeal to public servants and teachers is a simple appeal – trust the government, by the end of these five years, you will all be better off,” he said.
President Ali was keen to note that it is not his Government’s vision for the discourse to only be about salary increases; rather, it is actively looking at mechanisms that would allow all public servants to live improved lives.
“We are looking at the mechanism that would allow every public servant to own their own home. They also benefited from the help with the COVID-19 cash grant. But we want to empower public servants so that their children too can benefit from the scholarship programme, many of whom are already benefitting. The public servants themselves are benefitting. It is that holistic approach that is necessary, and we are happy about this,” said the President.
In addition to housing and education programmes, which he said, are putting money back into the pockets of public servants, the President noted that the Government has also implemented measures to support citizens during the pandemic.
Those measures, President Ali said include the reversal of taxes on a slew of utilities and items, as well as the removal of value-added tax on electricity, water, healthcare, education and even construction material.
According to the President, the Government estimates that those tax reversals automatically put billions back into the pockets of Guyanese.
Earlier this year, public servants also received a $25,000 one-off grant. A total of $2 billion was budgeted for this initiative and it was said to benefit over 60,000 workers. The beneficiaries of this grant include workers within central government, statutory bodies, subvention agencies, public corporations, teachers, medical workers, members of the Joint Services, government pensioners and staff of the University of Guyana, to assist them with the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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