Thousands to be offered voluntary termination
By Gitanjali Singh
The government will offer temporary, unqualified public servants between salary scales one to five, a voluntary termination package of one year's salary, as well as a training grant. The salary scale to be used is that of year 2000. This announcement was made yesterday by Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, and is to be given effect to early next year as part of the government's efforts to reform the public sector. It is not clear how many public servants falling within GS1 and GS5 are temporary and unqualified. Dr Luncheon said that data was now being compiled by the Public Service Ministry, the Public Service Commission and the Ministry of Finance. "We are informed by those who should know that those numbers are in the thousands, some say one... two... three... four thousands," Dr Luncheon said yesterday. There is a total of 8,966 public servants within bands one and five with 64% of them falling in the two lower brackets. If the temporary, unemployed workers who accept the severance package are at the bottom of their scales, they would be entitled to: GS1--$227,868, GS2--$248,623, GS3--$268,732, GS4--$280,998 and GS5--$316,579 as a salary benefit alone. Tax will have to be deducted but those on the lower scales will not pay much in taxes given the annual non-taxable threshold of $216 000. A sizeable training grant is to be added to the package. Stabroek News was told that a number of clerical staff within the ministries would be eligible to take the package if they so desire. Those workers employed by the Public Service Commission would not be eligible. Dr Luncheon said that those who opt for the severance package will not be re-employed within the public service, as the government would now be in a position to hire the competent and qualified, as its wage rate is now competitive. With the fiscal burden that the Armstrong Arbitration award of 31.06% for traditional public servants this year has placed on the budget (to be followed with a 26.6% increase next year), the government has placed a temporary freeze on employment until it concludes the framework for the public sector reform project. "The comparability with private sector wages raises the possibility of incorporating more private sector conditions of service into the public service," Dr Luncheon told reporters, noting that this was one of the goals of the reform process. The head of the Presidential Secretariat said that government's earlier efforts on reform have concentrated on job protection, but these new and significant wage increases have made more difficult "the retention of that policy". He said this special offer is initially to address the size of the public service; is exclusive to the five bands and is voluntary. "Successful applicants would receive the full financial package after agreeing to resign from the service," Dr Luncheon said, adding that the aim was to implement this in early 2000 once the necessary preparations were concluded. He indicated that bands one to five captured many of the unskilled workers in the public service who did not meet the qualifications for entry and were given 18 months to do so, while being temporarily employed and the period must have been exhausted. The government has not considered as yet whether the reform would involve workers from other categories being given a similar package. There are about 10,000 traditional public servants. Dr Luncheon indicated that what was currently in place was a colonial public sector structure and with the new structure that was being proposed, there might very well be the need for a further reduction in the staff complement and alterations in the employment pattern. "The emphasis [now] will be to attract competent and qualified staff," Dr Luncheon said. The reform of the public service had been supported in 1991 by the Overseas Development Agency when the reforms were embarked on. In 1993, the World Bank provided assistance to further the effort and is currently, along with the Inter-American Development Bank assisting the government's efforts. The public service unions have been informed of the government's decision and were offered to sit on the tripartite committee with the government and the private sector to have the reform implemented. Dr Luncheon also mentioned the effect the arbitration award has had on the industrial climate with other categories of workers coming forward to demand the same increases. Meanwhile, the government has agreed to continue to pay hard-lying allowances to teachers who seek additional qualifications at the University of Guyana in addition to the Cyril Potter College of Education. It has also agreed to make these allowances tax free and to offer a grant of Whitley Council leave every four years to qualified teachers. Additionally, risk allowances to the identified 23 teachers have been increased to $1,000 per month.
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