The Guyana Public Service Union, while wishing its members all the best for the festive season, has some harsh words for the government over its handling of the issue of salary increases, salary adjustments and the general well-being of public servants.

In its Christmas message, the GPSU said public servants, for the most part will be having a grim Christmas with the salary increase which was imposed on them and in light of the current cost of living.

The Union continues to decry being sidelined by the government during wage negotiations.

“The foisting of economic crumbs upon the Public Servants was done notwithstanding the fact that since 1993, the PPP/C Government intimated that “… there exists a need for negotiation of a comprehensive wages policy to solve the problems of the employed poor in the Public Service ….”, recognizing that Public Servants existed in abject poverty and was significantly below a living wage, a crisis that existed for decades. In relation to the unilaterally determined increases, Government sought to justify its quantum by using intimidatory tactics, where Public Servants were being asked to give opinions on the sufficiency of the increases to their political heads, during videotaped sessions, while their cohorts misrepresented the cost of living and inflationary trends in the print media,” the GPSU said in a statement today.

The Public Service Union said good governance seems to be a far cry in Guyana. To achieve good governance, the union calls on civil society to genuinely unite to and hold the government accountable. The Union said further that there is only one route to conquer the current political trends and that is through embracing national unity. 

“In the end it must be the Guyanese people, who must raise their voices in unison against the oppressive conduct of Government. It is the Guyanese people, who must decry bad governance and demand stewardship and value for money from this Government. Without this, we the people would be doomed to lives of misery, despite the wealth bestowed by God on this land,” the Union said.

The statement which was issued in the name of the Union’s President, Patrick Yarde said the government’s continued failure to engage in meaningful discussion on the way forward will only continue to hurt public servants and portray the government as one acting in bad faith .

Related posts:

GPSU plans move to the Court over salary increases for public servants GPSU seeks audience with government for start of salary negotiations for public servants Public Servants to get salary increases ranging from 0.5% to 7% for 2018 GPSU rejects Government’s initial salary increase offer for public servants