The National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation signed an agreement for wages and salary increases for 143 junior staffers and 18 private salaried employees on Thursday, 7th July. The union also accepted the corporation’s offer of a five per cent wage increase for last year and a similar wage increase for this year.
The agreement was reached after the union recognised the unfair salary structure and payment arising out of the across-the- board increases, since in the 1980s when all workers were rewarded a wage/ salary that was known as the minimum wage, which was actually the maximum that a worker was entitled to get for a particular job, NAACIE said in a statement on Monday, July 10.
According to the union, the industrial concept of bunching was very apparent through this system, and workers on the job with years of experience were at or just over the bare minimum of the scales.
“This agreement does not treat the different categories with receipt of the similar increases, but treats each group of jobs selected through a job evaluation exercise done jointly between the union and the corporation,” NAACIE said of the newly-inked agreement.
Also, a salary survey done jointly for similar jobs in the Guyanese job market will inform how increases are dealt with. A 60 per cent span from the mean of the survey was treated as the minimum of the new scales thereby causing an increase of the old scales.
Acceptable solution
Added to this is a two per cent increase for each year of work in a particular job up to 10 years, making some workers who have been on the job 10 years and more further entitled to a 20 per cent increase, while persons with one year’s experience are entitled to a further two per cent increase.
“The union feels that this is an acceptable solution even though we battled (for) over one decade to reach this far.
“We will continue these discussions to have a complete and comprehensive agreement to be our source of information in the early future,” NAACIE said.
Last week, this newspaper reported that the other union that represents sugar workers – the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) — had made a proposal for 15 per cent wage increases for its workers this year, but GuySuCo stated it cannot meet the union’s demands and countered with a five per cent increase. The parties have met twice already to negotiate increases.
GAWU asked for the same percentage of increase last year, but a bitter wage dispute erupted, with the sugar company threatening to derecognise the union.
GuySuCo, highly indebted to foreign and local banks, has blamed its failure to produce the targeted amount of sugar on poor weather and constant strikes. Because the corporation has been unable to produce the intended amount of sugar, it has been unable to pay a wage increase or annual production incentive (API) for this year.
At Enmore Martyr’s Day observances on June 16, GAWU President Komal Chand had lamented non-implementation of a five per cent rise in the rate of pay of sugar workers from January 1, 2011.
Chand said workers in the public and private sectors had this year got new rates of pay based on their increase in pay last year; and while sugar workers got a five per cent increase in pay, they are still being paid at their 2009 rates of pay.
“It is most discriminatory to treat the nation’s sugar workers so disrespectfully. Sugar workers are becoming incensed at the procrastination. They would not like to see the delay last beyond June 30, 2011,” the trade union leader had said.
Chand further urged that the five per cent additional rate of pay issue be urgently addressed.
