Guyana’s 7% salary increase looks good, comparatively speaking

Nov 26, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – I am not one to dabble in politics or anything of the sort, but I feel compelled to write this letter to you to share my view on the recently announced seven percent salary increase for public servants. I will keep this as short as possible and get straight to the point.
At a time like this when everyone is faced with challenges that were brought about by the pandemic, there is a growing need for more disposable income to reach the people. People need more money so that they can survive at a time when prices are rising. We examine the situation in our neighbouring countries, or even CARICOM and we see how people are crying out for help. It is not just something that is confined to Guyana. Everyone needs help and even a seven percent increase in salary will help in some way or the other.
I did some research on salary increases in other CARICOM countries and what I found is something that I am sure will never see the light of day from the Opposition’s end.
In Antigua, the government has been struggling to pay salary increases to its workers. In fact, an article published by Nation News on September 7, 2021, outlined the challenges the government has been facing with paying the increase.
The main issue was the pandemic and the impact on the country especially with lockdowns and so forth. Shifting focus to Jamaica, we see that they also had a struggle with salary increases because of the pandemic. Reports from the Jamaican government, as well as the Jamaica Gleaner publication, outlined that workers will receive a four percent salary increase come 2022, but they will be getting retroactive payment from April 1st, 2021.
Looking at these figures, it is clear that Guyana has done better by offering a seven percent increase and retroactive salary to January 1st, 2021.
If this does not put into perspective how good we are getting it in Guyana, allow me to point out the situation in Dominica. The Dominica News Online publication reported early in March 2021 that public officers will be getting a 1.25 percent increase. This is far less than what Guyana’s public officials are getting, in addition to being retroactive.
I think it is very important for people to consider all the facts before launching on social media to criticise the government. I saw that many of the opposition members like Duncan, Jones and McDonald to name a few, were using the comparisons put out by the PPP/C, to say that even though those countries received lower increases than Guyana, they pay higher wages and, as such, the people have more spending power.
Even though that may be true, every single country struggled to settle at a specific percentage because of the pandemic. They could not give their workers anything sizable, and many could not make it retroactive. Guyana has given seven percent retroactive across the board which, in the context of Guyana, is noteworthy especially with the pandemic still in full swing.

Sincerely,
Alvin Hamilton

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Guyana’s 7% salary increase looks good, comparatively speaking

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