because we are not making the money

micevan1l6

Communities across the coast are bracing for blackouts as workers of the state-owned Guyana Power and Light (GPL) company plan to continue their strike action.Talks between GPL and the worker’s union, NAACIE, gained no ground yesterday. Minister of Labour Dr Nanda Gopaul chaired those talks.Both GPL and NAACIE held to their positions during the meeting and if no agreement is reached between the two parties this weekend, the Minister could be forced to invoke arbitration.No meetings are expected to take place this weekend.Mr Kenneth Joseph, the General Secretary of NAACIE, said that the government is attempting to do what it did with public sector workers. For years, the government has been imposing salaries increases in the public sector, leaving the workers union GPSU in the cold.Joseph said that NAACIE is not about to let itself be taken down that road. He said that if the unions cannot have a say in the affairs of their workers, then the workers would be left to accept whatever is offered to them.NAACIE is contending that its 2001 agreement with GPL remains in force. That agreement called for negotiations for increase in salaries, outside of an automatic three percent increment on the salaries of workers annually, and a performance-based incentive of between zero and 10 percent.GPL is claiming that its five percent increase offer covers the 2001 agreement.For NAACIE, Joseph said the core issue is not about the percentage increase, but it is about getting GPL to honour its agreement.GPL has claimed that it is unable to pay the increase, but Joseph said the unions have not been shown the company’s balance sheet.On Thursday, company officials said that the high cost of fuel and losses are preventing it from paying workers. The GPL management lamented the fact that last year alone, taxpayers fueled up the company with $6 billion to keep it afloat, but even so the company says that it does not have money to meet workers demands.“The fact that we are offering a five per cent increase which has to be a part of the subsidies from Government, means that we are paying more than we really can afford, because we are not making the money,” Chairman of the power company, Winston Brassington, stated.He said that the wage bill for NAACIE-represented employees is in fact substantial, with the average cost per member being about $1.7 million per annum.Moreover, the increase represents an average cost to GPL of over $140,000 per month, which is in fact quite high, said the GPL Chairman who noted that “they may argue that they don’t see all of that…that some of it is NIS, some of it is allowances…but that is what it costs the company and that is our real cost for employing them… and it’s a significant number.”NAACIE employees attached to GPL amount to about 700 individuals, thus the wage bill for this faction of workers translate to some $1.5 billion, Brassington said.“I don’t think any other state-owned entity or any other entity with comparable employees that would have a higher average wage bill for employees,” added Brassington, who said that GPL has significant amounts of non-salary benefits that also cost the company, and which contribute to the total wage bill.The GPL Chairman asserted that the offered increase should be taken against the background that in the last six years, substantial increases were paid to employees. He recalled that in 2007, a nine per cent all-inclusive package was offered and in 2008, 2009 and 2010, a six per cent all-inclusive package was made available.In 2011, eight per cent was offered, Brassington added.“These are significant amounts for GPL to pay,” the GPL Chairman stated, even as he reiterated that the finances of the company have not been doing well.This was however not the first year that Government made available subsidies to the power company, as according to Brassington, subsidies were approved in 2008 and 2011.In addition, Government has loaned GPL substantial sums for investment, all of which have to be repaid, thus, Brassington stressed, “GPL as an entity has not been generating the cash flow that it requires and is dependent on the treasury for subsidies for its operation and for its capital investment”.This dilemma, he said, is coupled by the fact that oil prices have been rising, with increases being evident in 2007, 2008 and then in 2011 and 2012. As a result, GPL was forced to spend over $24 billion on fuel alone, representing 83 per cent of the company’s revenue, Brassington disclosed.