HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon informed, yesterday, that public servants will benefit from salary increases for 2013. He said an announcement will be made soon, of the formal approval that was given the Public Service Ministry to go ahead with the payment.Speaking to the media at his usual post-Cabinet briefing in Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, Luncheon said Public Service Minister, Jennifer Westford reflected, last Tuesday, on the output of the engagements of her ministry.

“And I think it would be fair to say that the conclusion that one could draw is that there will be a salary increase. That matter is hallowed. It is not likely to exceed the planned five percent that is in the budget,” he stated. Offering an update on the 2013 Minimum Wage Order 2013, Luncheon said Cabinet continues to monitor its implementation. He said the Public Sector, particularly the Public Service, came mostly to Cabinet’s interest dealing, specifically, with the provision of services and the employment of officers in the Public Service. Those two major areas, in compliance with the Minimum Wages Order, involved financial considerations and cost increases associated with the eight-hour work day for full-time employees, who do five days and 40 hours per week. As a consequence of the provisions of the Minimum Wages Order, Luncheon said salary increases and the cost for the procurement of services had to be entertained.

Major areas “The Local Government Ministry’s security services are two major areas in local government. Cabinet has undertaken to address the implementation of the provisions of the Minimum Wages Order with respect to the thousands of sweepers/cleaners in the schools in the administrative regions of Guyana. “In the Public Service, in the local government system, the implementation has gone apace and for some of the last areas in Region 10, Cabinet, recently, approved $9M for the Interim Management Committee of the Linden Municipality to offset the expenditure it would have incurred in complying with the Minimum Wages Order of 2013,” he reported. Across the scale, the Minimum Wages Order and the provision has seen an escalation in the prices at which security services are procured, which directly led to increases in wages/salaries and conditions of security service employees of the contractors in the Public Service and, particularly, in the local government system, Luncheon explained. In the Private Sector, he said the Ministry of Labour continues to arbitrate in those instances when conflicts, disputes and the need for clarification arise in the interpretation of the Minimum Wages Order in the area of Private Sector employment. Luncheon previously announced, earlier this year, that, with effect from July 1, 2013, the amount of $35,000 will be the new national minimum wage in Guyana. He said the initiative was strongly supported at the level of a tripartite committee that comprised Government, organised Labour and the Private Sector. The HPS said, then, that $8,000 would be the equivalent for weekly paid workers and $200 per hour for those hourly paid. “Cabinet noted that, since 1977, when the Public Service minimum wage was promulgated, a national minimum wage was not in existence in Guyana. This initiative was long overdue and enjoys the strong support of Cabinet for its implementation with effect July 1,” Luncheon stated.