Sugar workers to benefit from 8% salary increase
Sugar workers will also benefit from an eight per cent increase in salaries and wages.
This announcement was on Friday made by Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo during his press conference hosted at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive.
He said the decision was made at Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The government continues to invest in the sugar industry which was shut down under the APU+AFC government, placing more than 7,000 sugar workers and their families on the breadline.
President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali on November 17 announced the eight per cent across-the-board retroactive increase to public servants, teachers, members of the disciplined services, constitutional office holders, as well as government pensioners.
Adjustment to the salaries of junior ranks of the Police Force, Prison Service, Fire Service were also announced.
These commitments by the government fall against the backdrop of a number of other measures implemented since its assumption to office in August 2020, with the aim of improving disposable incomes to public sector employees and Guyanese at large.
These include the payment of a seven per cent across-the-board increase in 2021; the restoration of one-month tax-free year-end bonuses to the disciplined services totalling more than $1 billion per annum; an increase of some 40 per cent in the monthly old-age pension from $20,500 to $28,000, providing a total pension payout of more than $21 billion to senior citizens; an increase of 55 per cent in public assistance payments from $9,000 to $14,000 monthly, which provided a total of more than $3 billion in annual income support to the beneficiaries of the programme, among other interventions.
Other noteworthy incentives include the restoration of the cash grants to the parents of school-aged children, totalling some $6 billion in direct cash transfers, and an increase in the minimum wage for private sector employees by 36 per cent to $60,147, in keeping with the recommendations of the tripartite committee.
Government had also implemented a number of measures to mitigate the effects of the rise in cost of living, most notably the removal of the excise tax on fuel, capping freight charges used in calculating import taxes, providing fertiliser and other support to farmers to boost food production, and direct cash transfers to especially vulnerable communities.
The PPP/C government continues to examine ways of improving the income of Guyanese, and ensuring that each citizen reaps the benefits of the major-scale developments taking place across the country.