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Bowing to pressure from trade unions, opposition, and civil society, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has increased the National Minimum Wage to $60,147, which took effect from July 1, 2022. But the government is yet to meet with trade unions in the teaching and public service to engage in collective bargaining on pay increase and working conditions. The main Opposition is not happy about this, said A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs, Roysdale Forde S.C, who also has responsibility for Labour.
Whilst the Government remains comatose and uncaring to the welfare of some workers, particularly those in the public and teaching sectors, the record shows that APNU+AFC has consistently supported increased wages for both private sectors and indeed public sector wages, said Forde.
The National Minimum Wage was last increased in January 2017 to $ 44,200 per month or $10,200 per week under the coalition government. In 2018, the government, via a Tripartite Committee, had approved raising the Wage to $60,000 but implementation was stalled.
The Member of Parliament noted that whereas the PPP/C acceded to public wisdom to pay workers more, the new National Minimum Wage is far below the current rate of inflation and worth less now than if they were announced in 2020. He goes further in saying the increases offer nothing sufficient from which these workers can save and meaningful be a defense, much less a buffer to the ever-escalating run-away prices of basic commodities.
“The PPP/C has agreed to these increases without any commitment to really improving the quality of life of these workers and their families. Their delight has neither extended to or culminated with any profound statement that the increases would offer the workers a livable wage. At this junction, what Guyanese workers need is not an increase merely in the minimum wage in an abstract sense, but rather an increase in wages which will give them a livable wage.”
Expounding further on the matter Forde stated that “a livable wage is a wage that permits the attainment and realisation of a worker’s physical, emotional, social and cultural needs and for their families. A livable wage is a wage that would allow the Guyanese workers to have a decent quality of life, enough to save, sufficient to cover basic expenses and ample to provide for life’s unexpected challenges.” This the PPP/C continues to fail to deliver to the workers of Guyana, said Forde.
The $60, 000 new wage “will not move Guyanese out of the firm grip of poverty and they will definitely not break the social and economic conditions which produce cycles of inequality, lack of education, poor health, general and pervasive underdevelopment which accompanies most Guyanese all lifelong.”
Saying a livable wage is a recognised international human right, but for the PPP/C it is probably just another right they’re least concerned to protect, he noted the ad hoc cash grant and discriminatory hamper distribution are incapable of resulting in a livable wage for the Guyanese workers. “These actions cannot be used as a substitute, or a comprehensive National Development Plan aimed at improving the quality of workers. In fact, this ad hoc approach pursued by the government could only lead to a dependency syndrome that is unhealthy to the economic development of workers.”
Condemning the government’s disregard for workers, Forde said the ad hoc paying out of cash grants, new minimum wage, and failure to engage in collective bargaining with trade unions in the teaching and public service, would have rippling negative effects on families, communities and the nation as a whole. “There is a fundamental difference between the PPP/C and the APNU+AFC on economic development. The PPP/C’s approach will yield only greater dependence on hand outs and poverty. The APNU+AFC’s approach will yield a livable wage and reduced poverty levels,” said Forde.
