Latest update December 13th, 2024 1:00 AM
Jordan calls for removal of across-the-board salary increases
Kaieteur News- Former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan has called for the Government of Guyana (GoG) to modify its approach to public servants’ salary increases, arguing that the across-the-board method is unjust to workers on the lower end of the salary scale.
During a recent interview with Member of Parliament (MP), Sherod Duncan, Jordan said the government must be recognised for negotiating allowances to benefit public servants. He also said, “It is good that the government has been able to conclude an agreement with the GPSU (Guyana Public Service Union). As you know, they have been in the wilderness ever since the government came to power in 1992.”
Jordan, however, recommended that the government makes a shift away from across-the-board salary increases. He explained, “It rewards both the laggard, the sluggard, the incompetent, the top performer and everybody and then it widens the wealth gap or the poverty gap…. Can you imagine giving a 10% salary increase to a minimum wage worker? That worker gets now an increase of $8615 per month.”
Former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan
Comparing that to President Irfaan Ali’s salary, the former Finance Minister noted, “The President gets a tax-free salary in the region of about $2.9M a month, so that means he is getting $290,000 additional tax-free dollars as a result of this 10% increase so that man and the minimum wage of $8615 for a whole year, he gets roughly $100,000 increase and the President’s increase is almost three times his entire year’s increase.”
To this end, Jordan pointed out that the widening of the wealth gap continues with the across-the-board increases being served. He therefore suggested that the government begin planning for salaries to be competitive with the oil industry, the private sector, the region and even internationally.
According to him, “You have to ask yourself; do you really want our nurses and our teachers to come back? Do you think you could forever go to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and India and so on to recruit nurses at rates that are better than you are paying your locals, just on salary alone?”
Meanwhile, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, during his weekly press conference at Freedom House on Thursday, addressed the issue of the 10% increase in public servants’ wages, announced by President Ali on Tuesday. He, however, pointed out that while it is being claimed that public servants on the lower end of the spectrum are being treated unfairly, the fact remains that these employees are paid higher salaries compared with the private sector. “If you look at the bank now, a bank, their average entry level is between $80,000 to $115-$120,000. Our average with these salary increases, our lower end will be over $100,000 so we have seen people move from many of the banking institutions and now are seeking public service jobs even at the lower end and some of the people at the lower end you don’t even need any qualifications,” Jagdeo explained. The GoG and the GPSU on Tuesday signed a two-year agreement that will see public servants receiving a 10% across-the-board salary increase retroactively in 2024, with an additional 8% increase to take effect from January 1, 2025.
(Jordan calls for removal of across-the-board salary increases)
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