The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) urged Minister of Finance, Saisnarine Kowlessar to revisit the Income Tax regime based on family size, while meeting with him last Friday on consultations over the National Budget 2004.

FITUG also had discussions on the income tax threshold, tax-free payment for overtime, government subvention for public utilities, including water and electricity, and duty-free concessions to trade unions for better service to members, a FITUG release said.

The trades union group also raised with the minister ideas regarding the provision in the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act for money to be paid to displaced workers for retraining to re-enter the work force, as well as a call for emphasis to be placed on government scholarships to enter the University of Guyana in pursuit of disciplines relevant to the needs of the national economy.

According to the release, Minister Kowlessar said the ideas were very stimulating. He noted too that he is aware of the workers' plight and indicated that if some of the ideas were not already in the national budget, they will be revisited when necessary.

Kowlessar said also that some ideas had been discussed before on the subvention for public utilities, and GPL and GWI were already receiving subventions.

FITUG explained that its intention in holding the discussions was not to undermine the consultations with the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), but under its umbrella were unions representing large numbers of workers in strategic areas of the economy.