The gov’t must engage in collective bargaining but the rest of the population must benefit equally from our economic boom

Guyana’s public sector workers have all secured pay increases higher than inflation since Irfaan Ali was elected President in 2020; hence the boast by President Lula that 80% of Brazil’s unionized workers had secured the same through collective bargaining agreements rings a bit hollow in Guyana’s context. There are differences in the approach taken by Brazil’s administration and there are lessons to be learnt for both countries.

President Ali’s administration has taken the route of arbitrary, across-the-board increases annually, coupled with systematic removal of taxes, VAT, and duties, raising of the tax threshold, higher pensions, ever-increasing school grants, and a raft of other monetary grants and incentives to every working sector of the population. What Ali has failed to do, is engage in collective bargaining with the various trade unions, and for this, there are consequences, both good and bad.

Guyana’s Constitution dictates collective bargaining and for this reason alone it must be done, but there is also the possibility that President Ali is ‘giving away the shop’ as his salary increases have outstripped inflation in every year of his presidency to date. Three questions come to mind. 1. Is President Ali negotiating the best deal for taxpayers? 2. Is Ali being equitable? 3. Are any of the union members happy with their lot? I believe the answer is NO on all counts for the following reasons.

1. Guyana has a bloated public sector, with 54,000 plus employees, all of whom seemingly enjoy tenure, few of whom do the ‘work’ while the rest enjoy ‘rock back George’ status. The Granger administration added over 14,000 employees to the permanent establishment with little or no justification. There has been no discernible improvement for members of the public when dealing with government offices; it all too often takes intervention by the Minister and her/his secretariat for resolution of the smallest issue. There are no annual performance reviews and subsequent corrective action/s applied to individual workers, when last has there been a ‘trimming of the fat”? Instead, they all get a raise at the end of the year and they also benefit from all of the other economic boosting initiatives offered to the general population. Where is the value for taxpayers’ dollars in all of this? Principles of value for work must be re-established in the public sector as it prevails in the private sector.

2. Equity has not yet been achieved in the public sector, the recent industrial action by teachers exposed how far workers in the health and security sectors are lagging. It is no surprise to learn therefore that there is a massive surplus of teachers and a corresponding shortfall in nurses, orderlies, doctors, police ranks, and police officers.

3. President Ali has a vision and he is busy doing what he feels is best for everyone, he knows his pay increases are outstripping inflation but he fails to understand that people want this to come via collective bargaining. Given that any proper negotiations with government and unions should yield the best deal for taxpayers, the increases and benefits to workers may end up being less than the spat upon 6.5%, but it would have been achieved through the constitutionally mandated process and, therein lays the happiness and satisfaction of the union members.

Editor, the way forward is clear, the government must engage in collective bargaining and it must do so in the manner of a corporation responsible to shareholders, i.e. get maximum value for every dollar spent. Government must also ensure that workers and their unions understand that their salaries and benefits are recurring expenditures and not part of a social welfare distribution of ‘oil money’. A reminder is due to our public sector workers that they make up 5% of our population and the other 95% should benefit equally from our economic boom and that responsibility rests with President Ali and his executive, not the unions and their squeaky wheels.