The management of the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU) have arrived at an interim position on a new two-year agreement on higher salaries and improved working conditions. It is expected to become effective on January 1.

The agreement was reached on Wednesday, at a meeting between the GBC administration and the CCWU under the guidance of Deputy Chief Labour Officer, Dhanraj Sookdeo. It was agreed that GBC would withdraw all warning letters (dated October 31) sent to employees who had participated in strike action from October 24 - 26, to protest alleged financial corruption, a CCWU press release stated.

It was further decided that negotiations between the two parties will recommence forthwith in the New Year to examine the union's proposals to amend salary scales and the respective duties to which employees have been designated, the release said.

According to the release, CCWU General Secretary, Grantley Culbard, opined that the understanding reached between the parties has paved the way for a new approach through which GBC's management and the union could function in a transparent manner thus aiding the development of the corporation and its employees. It added that Culbard also noted that the new commitment had come at a time when the enhancement of social dialogue was viewed as a prerequisite for the way forward.

Meanwhile, then acting branch chairperson, Peter Fraser, who had been sent on indefinite leave shortly after the industrial action, resumed work last week without loss of pay following a pact between the parties without the aid of the Labour Ministry, the release stated. The CCWU had seen this action by the administration against Fraser as one of victimisation and a breach of the terms of resumption signed by the parties at the Ministry of Labour on October 26, the release added.