The government is currently re-evaluating the country’s revenues and projected revenues and, based on the outcomes of the evaluation, further adjustments to the daily minimum wage and the income tax threshold may be implemented. President Irfaan Ali made this announcement during a press conference on Saturday, at State House in Georgetown.
Ali stated his regime is carefully scrutinising the numbers and ensuring that any decisions made align with the sustainability of the economy, as that remains the utmost priority.
The minimum wage for the public sector is currently $75,000. In June 2022, the minimum wage for private sector employees rose from $44,200 to $60,000.
In the 2023 budget, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh proposed raising the income tax threshold to $85,000. This placed an additional $303B into the hands of taxpayers.
Last year government announced salary increases for members of the disciplined services and some healthcare workers received salary increase raises.
These increments were implemented in addition to an eight percent across-the-board raise for all public servants, which was made retroactive to January 1, 2022.
Unlike the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government (2020-2025) every pay increase public servants received during the three-year-old government, the President and Ministers also received increase. inflation was also lower during the coalition term than it has been under the Ali government.
According to the president, he will be addressing specific categories of public sector employees, with a particular focus on teachers, through a consultative process that not only considers salary adjustments but also housing and other needs. He failed to say if that process includes the Guyana Teachers Union, who represents teachers in the public school system.
The three-year-old Ali government has ignored collective bargaining in the teaching and public sector. The Guyana Public Service Union has taken the government to court, asking that the court instruct the government, who is the employer, to respect the workers’ constitutional right to collective bargaining. This is stipulated in Article 147 of the Guyana Constitution. Sect 23(1) of the Trade Union Recognition Act requires employers to treat with the union, where it exists in the workplace, and negotiate in good faith. The Ali government has a bad industrial relations track record.
