“The GTU rejects with scorn this forced upon salary increase/decrease”- Union

Dec 10, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – “The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) rejects with scorn this forced upon salary increase/ decrease.”

This was the position of the GTU on Saturday after the government announced on Friday that public servants would receive a 6.5 percent, across the board salary increase retroactive from January 2023. The increase will benefit 54,000 individuals, encompassing public servants, and members of the Disciplined Services, constitutional office holders, and government pensioners.

Following the announcement on the increase which was made by the Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility of finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, the GTU said it stands “in awe and disbelief, that the government could be so callous and disrespectful.”

Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh

It said that the 6.5 percent increment translates to a less than $5000 addition to the monthly earnings of public servants currently receiving the minimum wage.

The union further noted that it is evident, “that the announcement speaks of a shameless, meager and disrespectful 6.5 percent, to public sector workers, falling 1.5 percent below from the previous year that had a salary increase of 8 percent.”

The GTU said, “The high-class indecency and total disregard lends beyond the imagination of public servants, teachers and any veracious thinking citizen, which will cause even the smallest child to conclude that this government is wicked, uncaring and deceptive.”

The GTU stressed, that it must be recognised that teachers are the backbone of Guyana’s economy, which it said, has been dubbed, “the Dubai of the Caribbean.”

It said to unleash on public servants “such a whiplash, it is of most insensitive and disgusting to even state the least.” The Union noted also that given the high cost of living and taxation, in described the 6.5 percent increase as a mere dot on the sea of glass.

The GTU issued an empathic call for the government to reconsider with immediate effect their position and “the lawless behaviours they have demonstrated while urging them to come clean with the teachers’ of Guyana.”

To this end, the GTU reminded the government of a “Comprehensive Proposal’ which, according to them, was submitted many moons ago, and to date not a favourable response was given.

“It’s an opportunity for you (government) to retrieve the document and let us (Teachers) sit around the table and talk like right thinking and law-abiding citizens, who care about their workforce,” the GTU said.

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Dr. Ashni Singh, public servants, Salary increase/decrease, Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, teachers

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