Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and the Guyana Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union (GPTWU) have reached an agreement in which will see a four and six per cent increase for staff for 2021 and 2022 respectively.
The two bodies signed a Collective Labour Agreement that will cover only Union Workers that is set at 150 Staff.
The Agreement will see a four per cent increase on the basic salary for October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021, and a six per cent increase from October 2021 to October 2022.
The two have also agreed to do a review of the agreement with the aim of raising that scale to 8 per cent.
At the signing, the two bodies were represented by GTT Representative and GPTWU Union Reps, who expressed gratitude in the agreement.
Speaking on behalf of GTT, Human Resource Officer, Tiana Gurcharran, said that the company is happy to conclude negotiation for the increase in wages and salaries.
The company is happy to continue working along with the union. It is part of having a good relationship under the leadership of the new Chief Executive Officer.
“We are happy that we have concluded this and we look forward working with the GPTWU, as we move along under our new leadership, a new CEO,” Ms Gurcharran noted.
President of GPTWU, Mr Harold Shepherd, said they would have started this process this year and they are happy that the process was concluded in a short time without the matter heading to arbitration.
“We would have commenced this process early this year. During the bilateral discussion, we were unable to reach a resolution, so the issue was referred to the Ministry of Labour for conciliation.
“We are happy with the input of the Chief Labour Officer and more so the new CEO of GTT.
“At the first meeting we were able to meet a position in which we were able to agree to a four per cent increase on the basic salary for the GTT Unionized members,” Mr Shepherd noted.
He added that it’s a welcome move since the staff at GTT are also faced with the high cost of living.
“We are all aware that cost of living has skyrocketed over the last few months and obviously our membership at GTT have to face the market like anybody else.”
