| Coupled with the current restructuring ongoing at the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) hundreds of employees may lose their jobs at the municipality were the Guyana Labour Union (GLU) to have its way and force the M&CC to increase the salaries of its workers.This is according to Georgetown Mayor, Hamilton Green, who told this newspaper that the already cash strapped council would be forced to retrench the workers,Wholesale Jerseys Outlet, given that at present the M&CC office has already had cause to scale down its operations.He pointed to the fact that masons are at times left with nothing to do,Cheap NFL Jerseys, given that there is no money to purchase cement.Another example of the scaling down of operations is the parking of machinery which require fuel; these are now left idle given that the municipality has to ration its fuel.GLU General Secretary,Nike Air Max 2018, Carvil Duncan is adamant that the employees are entitled to a substantial increase in their pay package retroactive to January.Duncan had said that even a 10 per cent increase that is on the table was not sufficient to meet the needs of the workers. He emphasised that the employees were not afforded a mandatory increase last year.Duncan disclosed that during negotiations,NBA Jerseys China, the council had offered the GLU, which represents more than 60 per cent of the municipal workers,Cheap Jerseys Online, a 10 per cent increase but this was firmly rejected by the union.“No increase was paid to the workers for 2007…The government gave the workers five per cent plus $4,000 which is equivalent to about a 21 per cent increase. The inflation rate for 2007 was 14 per cent and they paid no increase…We are saying we cannot accept 10 per cent for 2008 and nothing for 2007.”As a result,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, the GLU General Secretary is of the opinion that the workers are being setup to ultimately suffer.Duncan related that as the stronger union, the GLU has refused the percentage offered; the issue is now at arbitration.“We are saying that while we are not against the 10 per cent for 2008, we are not prepared to accept zero for 2007….That is our position.”The GLU in essence is lobbying for the workers to not only be paid 10 per cent for this year but also for last year which, according to Duncan, is yet still a compromising position the union has taken since the original intent was to negotiate for 20 per cent on an annual basis for the workers.Duncan further questioned the current ability of the council to pay the retroactive sum in October when for the past three months, it has been too cash-strapped to pay workers their salaries and complete a five per cent retroactive payment to the constabulary officers.City Mayor Green is, however, skeptical that the municipality would be able to do so given the level of its indebtedness.According to Green, because the council owes contractors several millions of dollars, it has been trying aggressively to acquire outstanding monies from tax payers, even as he noted the slothfulness of the court system.“The issue is not the payment of 10 per cent; workers deserve an increase with the present cost of living but we need to be able to expand our revenue base for this to occur…”Mayor Green articulated that the council has for a number of years been trying to have its revenue base expanded, a move which has been repeatedly rejected by the ruling People’s Progressive Party, he opined. |
