GPSU responds to President’s ‘lazy man pay’ comment

TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor,

The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) notes with a mixture of puzzlement and surprise, the comments attributed to His Excellency, the President, and seemingly directed to public servants which state in part that “If they want to be lazy, they will get a lazy person’s remuneration.”

The GPSU is a firm believer in the principle that reward, in whatever field of endeavour, should be associated with effort.

We hasten to add that with regard to public servants as a whole, this category of workers is richly deserving of far greater reward than they receive at this time.

We humbly submit too that the phenomenon of unequal effort among various workers is not unique to the public service. Indeed, it has been our experience that that deficiency is also to be found in other critical areas of public service where the transgression never seems to attract threats of remuneration commensurate with effort.

The point should be made, too, that what in the instance of the public service, might be construed as laziness may well, in effect, and insofar as it exists, be consequences of a protracted experience of being under-resourced and inadequately incentivised.

Indeed, we believe that some of the findings of the recently concluded report of the Commission of Inquiry into the public service bear out our position. Nor can the Union pretend to be unaware of the nexus between the timing of His Excellency’s comment and what, we hope, is the imminent announcement of a date for the commencement of negotiations on wages and salaries.

Indeed, we hasten to express the hope that while that may not be the substantive intention, His Excellency’s comments do not, inadvertently, serve to guide or prejudice the focus and direction of the forthcoming engagement on wages and salaries.

 

Sincerely,

GPSU Public

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