CHAMPION OF THE WORKING CLASS?
SEPTEMBER 7, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, PEEPING TOM
So the workers of Guyana have something to look forward to this year. Public service workers have been assured that they will be granted an increase this year. There was of course never any need for any such assurance. Public servants have received increases each year since the PPP came to power, and that has been nineteen years ago.
But what has been the magnitude of these increases. Except in those years where the government was compelled by arbitration rulings, the public sector workers have been thrown crumbs in the forms of annual 5% increases. In most instances, this 5% is almost immediately eroded by inflation which averaged 3% and then taxes which was 33.3% of the difference. This means that the workers gained in real terms only about a 1% increase each year. This is the working class record of the PPP administration and the particularly the Jagdeo administration.
The increases for 2011 are going to be going to be imposed on the workers because there has been and is not likely to be any negotiations with the unions representing the workers. This may not be all that bad since many unions have been known to make unreasonable and unrealistic demands while others are driven by narrow political agendas. The government which emerged out of the People’s Progressive Party which has prided itself in being a workers’ party no longer has to be worried about the trade union movement. The glory days of labour are gone, not just in Guyana but all over the world. Workers’ power is not going to emerge through unions anymore. Capitalism has meant that workers are now subject to market forces and instead of banding together are now competing against each other for jobs, thereby driving the rate down.
The private sectors in many countries now have allies in government who constrain wages so that the private sector does not have to pay “uncompetitive wages”. And therefore public employees are reduced to pawns. Their wages cannot increase appreciably since this will drive up wages in the labour markets, and this is not considered in the interest of the private sector and these wages are deliberately constrained so as to support the private sector. When trade unions make demands such as a minimum wage of $80,000 per month, they cannot be taken seriously, since there is no way that either the public sector or the private sector can sustain such a wage increase. And therefore an unreasonable and unrealistic wage demand pushes employers to ignore labour to the extent that they can.
Public workers in Guyana have little choice but to accept arbitrary imposition of wages. The government has proven that it has the capacity, had it since 1989, to wait out strikes called by unions. The workers on the other hand cannot afford to be on strike indefinitely and so the workers are in a position where they do not have much power. Last year the sugar workers were told that the sugar corporation was unable to afford an increase because the company was in dire financial straits, so much so that it had to sell land.
This year, an election year, the sugar corporation has suddenly found itself in a situation whereby it can afford to pay a 5% increase in wages. But with inflation said to be tagged at 3%, and with any additional income above the income tax threshold having to be taxed at 33.3%, it means that the workers are not gaining anything at all from the 5%.
And the ruling PPP administration has become a 5% government, content every year to offer this percentage as an increase to workers. This suggests that little attempt is being made to address the issue of a living wage, a disgraceful situation for a party that claims to be working class in orientation.
Source
SEPTEMBER 7, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, PEEPING TOM
So the workers of Guyana have something to look forward to this year. Public service workers have been assured that they will be granted an increase this year. There was of course never any need for any such assurance. Public servants have received increases each year since the PPP came to power, and that has been nineteen years ago.But what has been the magnitude of these increases. Except in those years where the government was compelled by arbitration rulings, the public sector workers have been thrown crumbs in the forms of annual 5% increases. In most instances, this 5% is almost immediately eroded by inflation which averaged 3% and then taxes which was 33.3% of the difference. This means that the workers gained in real terms only about a 1% increase each year. This is the working class record of the PPP administration and the particularly the Jagdeo administration.
The increases for 2011 are going to be going to be imposed on the workers because there has been and is not likely to be any negotiations with the unions representing the workers. This may not be all that bad since many unions have been known to make unreasonable and unrealistic demands while others are driven by narrow political agendas. The government which emerged out of the People’s Progressive Party which has prided itself in being a workers’ party no longer has to be worried about the trade union movement. The glory days of labour are gone, not just in Guyana but all over the world. Workers’ power is not going to emerge through unions anymore. Capitalism has meant that workers are now subject to market forces and instead of banding together are now competing against each other for jobs, thereby driving the rate down.
The private sectors in many countries now have allies in government who constrain wages so that the private sector does not have to pay “uncompetitive wages”. And therefore public employees are reduced to pawns. Their wages cannot increase appreciably since this will drive up wages in the labour markets, and this is not considered in the interest of the private sector and these wages are deliberately constrained so as to support the private sector. When trade unions make demands such as a minimum wage of $80,000 per month, they cannot be taken seriously, since there is no way that either the public sector or the private sector can sustain such a wage increase. And therefore an unreasonable and unrealistic wage demand pushes employers to ignore labour to the extent that they can.
Public workers in Guyana have little choice but to accept arbitrary imposition of wages. The government has proven that it has the capacity, had it since 1989, to wait out strikes called by unions. The workers on the other hand cannot afford to be on strike indefinitely and so the workers are in a position where they do not have much power. Last year the sugar workers were told that the sugar corporation was unable to afford an increase because the company was in dire financial straits, so much so that it had to sell land.
This year, an election year, the sugar corporation has suddenly found itself in a situation whereby it can afford to pay a 5% increase in wages. But with inflation said to be tagged at 3%, and with any additional income above the income tax threshold having to be taxed at 33.3%, it means that the workers are not gaining anything at all from the 5%.
And the ruling PPP administration has become a 5% government, content every year to offer this percentage as an increase to workers. This suggests that little attempt is being made to address the issue of a living wage, a disgraceful situation for a party that claims to be working class in orientation.
Source
