GPSU flays Ali for salary hike under expired agreement; proposes 35 percent increase

Last Updated on Sunday, 15 November 2026, 10:53 by Written By Denis Chabrol

The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has condemned President Irfaan Ali for saying that public servants would receive a pay increase for 2026 under the existing multi-year agreement although that accord expired last year and government has so far refused to offer a counter-proposal to the union’s demand for a 35 percent pay hike,

“Collective bargaining cannot be pre-empted by unilateral presidential pronouncements, nor can an expired agreement be arbitrarily extended to govern a new period,” the union said in a statement at the weekend.

And leader of the People’s National Congress Reform and its parliamentary arm- A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Aubrey Norton told  Demerara Waves Online News that government was yet to respond to his party’s proposal for a 25 percent increase in wages and salaries without prejudice to collective bargaining. “That should not preclude the government from looking after the well-being of the people and I pointed out that the cost of living is very high and at a minimum there should be a 25 percent wage increase,” he said.

President Ali said Friday that, “we have a multi-year agreement, and we will be honoring our multi-year agreement in terms of the salary increases payable to every category of workers in those agreements.”

However, the GPSU reminded that it and government in December 2024 agreed to a 10 percent salary increase for that year and eight percent in January 2024.  Any salary adjustment for 2026, the union said, must be properly negotiated in strict accordance with the 1987 agreement for the avoidance and settlement of disputes, the Constitution of Guyana, and applicable labour legislation.

The GPSU said it proposed a 35 percent pay hike, based on a calculation that a minimum-wage family with one -child has suffered a 31 percent to 35 percent shortfall in their gross household income to meet essential expenses of food, housing, healthcare and utilities. However, that bargaining agent said the government has asked for more time to come to the bargaining table, after the union’s first request for talks in December 2025 for 2026. “Despite the Union’s proactive submission, to date, a counter-proposal has not been submitted by the Government. Dedicated public servants continue to keep this country running while struggling daily to feed, house, and clothe their families,” the union said.

Though a 35 percent salary hike would amount to approximately GY$35,000 on a GY$102,000 salary, the union said even that would not be sufficient. “While even this figure does not constitute a true living wage, it represents a critical and necessary step toward easing severe household hardship.

The union said government has broken its promise in the 2024 agreement to meet with the GPSU monthly. Wary of government’s “stalling tactic” of an imposed wage and salary increase, the GPSU said the Irfaan Ali-led administration was sitting down on billions of dollars allocated in the 2026 national budget while refusing to hold negotiations  amid a “relentless cost-of-living crisis” “By running down the clock until year-end, the Government guarantees that any retroactive payout backdated to January will be issued as a lump sum and heavily taxed at 25%—effectively clawing back vital relief that workers needed months ago,” the union said.