Georgetown: The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is hoping for an amicable resolution of the strike action by workers within a few days, pointing out that the discussions on the issue have been scheduled for Friday between the Ministry of Labour and the power company.
The strike organised by the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) has been deemed unreasonable by Chairman of the GPL Board of Directors Winston Brassington. The industrial action which began on Wednesday saw 357 workers off the job and today, 271 stayed away.
The company’s offer of a five percent all-inclusive increase in keeping with the status quo over the last five years has been rejected by the union.
During a press conference hosted Thursday , Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPL Bharrat Dindiyal pointed out that among the demands that are being made, is for the upward movement on the salary scale accommodated by the annual performance incentive of 3 -11% to be done automatically. He stated that this agreement had expired in 2004.
Dindiyal noted also that in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011, agreement was reached for an all-inclusive offer of the demands that were being made and those agreements were signed on to by the relevant representatives.
However, in 2013 some of the demands cannot be met, due mainly to the fact that the company’s financial situation does not support the demands. Dindiyal explained that the large amount of subsidies granted to the power company by Government is almost entirely geared towards the purchase of fuel, the price of which has steadily increased on the world market.
Employees in the NAACIE category costs GPL almost $1.5 billion annually in remuneration, which is the highest non-fuel expenditure in the company. They enjoy an average annual remuneration of $1.7 million per employee, which ranks amongst the highest, if not the highest, in the country for employees in the same category.
He emphasised the need for discussion and agreement on a Collective Labour Agreement.
Negotiations with the union for wages and salary increases for 2012 commenced in September 2012, with the union demanding 25% increase across-the-board; annual performance incentive of 3 -11%; in-scale increase of 3% and increases on all allowances ranging from 28% to 100%.
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