The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), whose affiliates have among its membership employees in the public sector, has recognised that the Coalition Government, once again, is preparing to torpedo the concept and practice of Collective Bargaining. We recognised over the long weekend, media reports have reported that Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan disclosed that the Government was soon to make an announcement regarding increases of pay to public sector employees for 2019. The media also quotes the Minister as saying that this year’s increase will bring the overall pay increases granted in the Coalition’s term to 75 per cent. It seems to indicate that this year’s pay rise will be around 13 per cent bearing in mind, the Government says it granted aggregate increases of 61.74 per cent.
The Minister’s expression comes around the same time as we saw the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) saying that it has been ostracized from addressing pay increases for its members. The November 10, Stabroek News quoted GPSU President, Patrick Yarde as saying his union was “fed up with arbitrary impositions”. According to the news report, the GPSU shared that following a June 14 Memorandum of Agreement, there was no contact from the Government on the pay rise matter and the Union’s knowledge of the matter was related to what was disclosed in the media. This of course is vastly different from what the Government has been saying publicly. We recall the September 24, Guyana Chronicle, ironically quoting Minister Jordan as saying “I cannot say what per cent because we are talking to the unions and they do not like when you go off and say something and there is no agreement and principle”. We cannot help but wonder who was it that the Minister or the Government was speaking to in September especially when the GPSU said they last heard from the Administration in June. It appears the Minister and his colleagues are suffering from a Snow White deficit and are speaking to the magic mirror on the wall ostensibly to see who is the ‘fairest’ in the land.
Indeed, we, like the GPSU, share similar sentiments recognisingthat the Government has treated the workers organizations with contempt, disdain and derision. The continued imposition is contrary to what the APNU+AFC committed in its 2015 Elections Manifesto. It is also not in keeping with our own Trade Union Recognition Act and our Constitution. Moreover, it goes against the thrust of several ILO conventions which have been ratified by Guyana. Those conventions we should add were ratified by our country in June, 1966 and were among the first decisions we took as an independent nation.
The actions by the Administration are not setting a positive example and do not help in furthering Collective Bargaining which over the years have brought about several improvements for our nation’s workers. It is simply disheartening that the Administration continues to disregard their hard-fought right to bargain.
