The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) has deemed the government’s proposed salary increase for public servants as “virtually insulting”.
In a statement on Friday, the body said it is disgusted with the “final offer” put forward by the APNU-AFC Administration.
“Betraying its rosy manifesto offer of “substantial increases”, the government’s miserly offer to its own employees is being made even as “the-good-life-for-all” seems to be now limited to those ministers who benefitted from the steep remuneration increases not too long after their swearing-in” FITUG said.
It noted that “such increases are now salt in the wounds of the nation’s government employees.”
It alluded to several “delaying tactics” engaged in by the government including the long wait for the submission of the Report of the Public Service Commission of Inquiry.
The body notes that the “mean 10 per cent to 1 per cent offer” was not embraced by the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) which describes it as falling woefully short of its just demands and indeed the nation’s Teachers Union.
Implying that the final offer will continue to support poverty, FITUG called not for a nominal wage, but a ‘real wage’ which can adequately cover the mounting cost of living.
“The workers of Guyana, in sugar and in other economic entities, have more financial burdens piled upon their shoulders. The Coalition Government has a duty to implement a wage policy that would effectively address this reality in the interest of all our members” the Union body said.
The GPSU said its General Council will be meeting no later than today to discuss the government’s proposed “final offer”, however, President David Granger told the media on Thursday that the propsed1-10% increase is all that the government can afford at this time and therefore it will be moving ahead with its implementation whether it is supported by the union or not.
FITUG also welcomed the recent announcement by the Government that bauxite workers overtime would be tax-free.
