Public Service Union, APNU, AFC condemn 8% salary increase

Last Updated on Saturday, 19 November 2022, 5:54 by Denis Chabrol

The main opposition parties on Friday separately condemned the 8 percent retroactive salary increase for 2022 and demanded a 25 to 100 percent increase in the minimum salary to take account of inflation.

Opposition Leader and Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Aubrey Norton  recommended a 25 percent increase which would see the minimum salary increasing from GY75,000 to GY$93,750. For his part, Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan recommended that the minimum salary be hiked t0 GY$150,000 through collective bargaining. “Our approach would have been to talk to the trade unions and to negotiate a salary scale or an increase that was going to be acceptable to these stakeholders,” Mr Ramjattan said.

Mr Norton said the 8 percent being offered by government would be insufficient for households to cater for a rise in cost of living. “This  paltry increase cannot cushion the high and spiraling cost of living,” she said. He calculated that the 8 percent pay hike would put GY$6,000 more in the pockets of lowly paid public servants compared to GY$160,000 monthly for the President whose salary is an estimated GY$2 million monthly. “The President is giving the small man crumbs while they are getting the whole bread,” the Opposition Leader said.

Describing government’s pay hike as a “political gimmick” at a time when oil revenue is expected to be about GY$60 billion, Mr Norton projected that inflation would likely be about 19 percent this year. He noted that less than one percent has been budgeted to cushion the impact of cost of living.

Mr Ramjattan cautioned government against offering different salary increases in  haphazard and ad hoc manner  to teachers, healthcare workers, police and prison service personnel. “When you start pitting one against the other, you are dividing and diverting and ruling. It is now diversionary tactic to rule,” he said.

The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) again criticised government for breaching agreements and International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions on collective bargaining.

The union urged workers to get ready for industrial action even as urged government open talks on increased wages and salaries dating back to three years ago. “The GPSU also calls on all workers to start preparation for the necessary struggle for respect, fair and equal treatment and calls on the PPP/C Government to respect the Rule of Law and commence negotiations for wages, salaries and allowance for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022, forthwith,” the union said.  The GPSU has taken the government to court for allegedly violating agreements, Guyana’s Constitution and laws governing collective bargaining.