The government and the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) are continuing to haggle over public service wage increases in 2002, 10 months into the year.
The union is looking for an increase in the minimum wage for public servants of 64%, from $20,045 per month to almost $33,000.
The two sides recently held meetings under the conciliation process at the Ministry of Labour and another is set for today.
Negotiations between the parties, which commenced on April 3 of this year, reached a deadlock after several meetings requiring the commencement of conciliation. This started two weeks ago.
Contacted by Stabroek News last week, Permanent Secretary in the Public Service Ministry, Dr Nanda K Gopaul said "Negotiation is a slow and exhaustive process," while adding that the talks were being undertaken with due diligence and that the parties had adopted a serious approach.
Gopaul who is also head of the public service was however not in a position to give a definitive timeframe for any conclusion other than stating that modalities had been worked out and the talks were progressing.
GPSU President, Patrick Yarde said he hopes the process could be wrapped up within a week barring delays.
The union according to Yarde is however prepared to go to arbitration if necessary once the matter is not finally settled at conciliation.
He also acknowledged that the process has been "a slow one" noting that it was already the tenth month in the year and no agreement has been reached.
"These increases were intended to bring relief to the entire public service," Yarde said, suggesting that the government could have treated the increases with greater dispatch.
Government, Yarde said, had been expected to supply some information pertaining to the issue to the union but up to Friday afternoon nothing had been forthcoming.
According to Yarde, the union had submitted scales of increases being demanded instead of percentages as was previously done. This he said is aimed at arriving at a desired minimum wage said to be somewhere in the region of $33,000 per month.
The present minimum wage of $20,045, according to Yarde, is totally inadequate in satisfying the needs of public sector employees especially those at the bottom end of the scale.
The negotiations, he further said, have been going on in isolation since the parties are still in dispute as it relates to in-creases for 2001. The government in January had gone ahead and awarded increases of 5.5% across the board to public sector employees, a move that was rejected by the GPSU. The union for that year had demanded a 32% increase, which would have seen those in the lower brackets receiving a minimum wage of $25,590.
The union's rejection was based on the fact that it had requested arbitration prior to the government's award, which the administration had continually rejected as it said the union had made the request too late.
Subsequently Legal Affairs Minister, Doodnauth Singh on April 19 via an originating summons listed the GPSU and the Federated Union of Government Employees (FUGE) as defendants in an action seeking several declarations on the issue of arbitration. This matter is still pending.
Apart from salaries, Yarde cited the issue of allowances, which he said has been pending for sometime now.
According to the GPSU president, there are also proposals in the current wage negotiations to address some of the large disparities presently existing.