Yarde: Allowances can be decided in one day
Stabroek News
November 15, 2002
The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) remains adamant that the issue of allowances can be dealt with efficiently by arbitrators as they try to settle wages and salaries.
“Any efficient arbitrator (as those chosen) could deal with the matter in a day,” was GPSU President, Patrick Yarde’s response to Dr Nanda Gopaul’s suggestion Wednesday that the inclusion of allowances would result in undue delay in the arbitration process.
Gopaul, who is Permanent Secretary in the Public Service Ministry (PSM), had at a press conference on Wednesday, said the government wanted to deal with wages first before any consideration of allowances especially since the end of the year was fast approaching.
He also said a multi-year package would allow government to better plan its finances.
He further posited that the administration had indicated that it was disposed to dealing with wages/salaries and emoluments but the union has been insistent on the inclusion of the term allowances.
Yarde, responding to this, said it was the past experience with the government that has caused the union to take this stand.
He said that during the 1999 arbitration the term “emoluments” was included in the terms of reference to be adjudicated upon but after the arbitrators had fixed new levels of allowances the government did not honour them, claiming that it was not part of their mandate.
The matter has since been engaging the court’s attention.
Yarde said the union is not against multi-year wage packages, since the GPSU had submitted proposals for a two-year agreement covering 2001, 2002, which took nine months to gain the attention of PSM.
According to Yarde the union is not prepared to proceed at the convenience of the government to look at wages for 2003 and 2004.
Meanwhile, there has been no movement in relation to the stalled arbitration deliberations, but the GPSU has started a process aimed at seeing “appropriate action” being taken if the government attempts to impose a figure on public servants.
Part of this action has seen the union engaging in consultations to get its message across including meeting four local organisations yesterday.
