PPP GS calls out Opposition’s hypocrisy over teachers’ salary increase agreement

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, has criticised the hypocrisy of the political opposition for suggesting that the current multi-year agreement between the government and teachers is unfair.

While speaking at his party’s press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, Dr Jagdeo highlighted that the previous government had never increased the salaries for teachers by more than 10 per cent.

The party’s general secretary noted that in 2015, the APNU+AFC government had never even given a salary increase, but rather a one-off cash bonus; after campaigning that it would raise the salaries of teachers when the party gets into office.

In that very year, Dr Jagdeo reminded the APNU+AFC government had increased the salaries of its ministers by 50 per cent.

“And guess what? APNU never went beyond 10 per cent. In 2016, the salary increases ranged from 1 per cent to 10 per cent. 10 per cent was the maximum for people who were earning under $99,000 a month…In 2017 they lowered the scale and then it was 0.5 to 8 per cent. In 2018 it was 0.5 to 7 per cent. In 2019 it was 8.5 per cent. In no year did they go beyond 10 per cent and they said 10 per cent is insulting,” Dr Jagdeo explained.

This lack of care from the previous government is what justified the industrial action taken in 2018 though there was not much that was resolved at that time.

Dr Jagdeo, in calculating the total wage bill, drew attention to the fact that the bill for teachers’ salaries in 2015 would have been around $14.9 billion and that ten per cent of that would equate to $1.5 billion.

The GS contrasted the data to the wage bill of the current PPP/C government while citing that the teaching workforce has increased and is already being paid more.

The current wage bill of this government, he pointed out, equates to $40 billion per year and ten per cent of that, equates to 4 billion dollars.

“Their 10 per cent in 2016 on a 2015 wage bill cost $1.5 billion and our 10 per cent now on a $40 billion wage bill will cost $4 billion, $2.5 billion more per year. And if they found our 10 per cent insulting, how much more insulting was their 10 per cent which was the maximum wage increase for all the years they were in office,” Dr Jagdeo questioned.

The Government of Guyana and the Guyana Teachers’ Union on August 21 signed an agreement which will see teachers across the country benefit from a 27 per cent increase in salaries over the next three years. This multi-year agreement is a testament to the government’s unwavering commitment to providing for the needs of all its citizens.