By Kiana WilburgA Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Shadow Minister of Labour Basil Williams is of the firm belief thatAPNU Shadow Minister of Labour and Legal Affairs, Basil Williamsgovernment’s imposition of five and eight percent increases on public servants’ salaries not only reflects a lack of respect for state workers, but clearly constitutes another act of dictatorship.Though last year’s “frek-ish” increases summoned nation-wide protests from various sections of the public sector, the government recently announced that the five percent increase on the majority of public servants would be for those who earned above $50,000 monthly as at December 31st, 2013, and made retroactive to January 1st, 2014. Additionally, public servants earning less than $50,Cheap NFL Jerseys China,000 per month as at December 31st,Cheap NHL Jerseys, 2013, also had imposed on them an eight percent increase retroactive from January 1st, 2014.The attorney-at-law made this assertion during a press briefing yesterday which was held at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition on Hadfield Street, Georgetown.Williams told members of the media fraternity that this imposition by the government is just another disgraceful move when one takes into consideration its vilest act of dictatorship, in shutting down the Parliament.The Shadow Minister of Labour said that the Government violated the rights of the workers by disrespecting the terms in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with their union- the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU)- governing wages and salaries negotiations.The result, he noted, is that public servants are denied a living wage pegged at around $135,000 per month by the GPSU’s “basket of goods,” which requires a 35 percent increase in 2014 across the board.He said too that in response to President Donald Ramotar’s request, the Union proposed a multi-year agreement in respect of wages and salaries for public servants for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 proposing increases of 30 percent, 35 percent and 30 percent respectively. Williams noted however, that the government has failed and or refused to sit at the bargaining table to address this issue.After deductions of income tax and NIS contributions, the APNU parliamentarian said that coupled with the high rate of inflation,Wholesale Adidas Hockey Jerseys, the imposed increases are negligible.He emphasized that the government has shed all pretense of being a working class government, and continues to oppress the workers. On that note, he called for the government to honour the CBA and enter into negotiations with the Public Service Union.The APNU Shadow Minister was then asked if he believes the statement by the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Clement Rohee,Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys, that the latest increases are what government can afford at this time.He responded that he does not believe that that’s the only increase the government could afford. Williams asserted, “We went through this earlier this year during the debate of the 2014 budget and you would have seen the huge sum allocated for the proposal of increases. But there is a disparity in what was allocated and what they are giving now and the question of what happened to this money arises. They have enough money to pay a proper increase, in fact, pay a living wage,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, and that’s what the multi- year agreement was about. The Union realized that they could afford this and stretched it over the years,” as he explained earlier.The politician emphasized that the government has a history of not placing all of the taxpayer’s monies into the Consolidated Fund.He said that a “large chunk of money” is left out from the scrutiny of the Parliament and referred specifically to money from the Guyana Gold Board and the controversial Lotto Funds.Williams also told the media that the increases reflect government’s low priority for public servants and said that it has consistently showed this since 1992.What it has done, he explained, is to step up a class of the public service, specifically for the “PPP hacks, friends and cronies” to undermine the traditional public servants. This he said is reflected in the amount of persons placed on contracts by certain ministries.“We see that the total amount for 20 persons on contract in the ministry would outstrip about 100 of the traditional public servants and they are trying to undermine the traditional service. Government does not invest in people, it has a low priority for them and it prefers to invest in brick and concrete,” he added.Williams informed that while the APNU is trying its best to ensure that the industrial matter is not turned into a