NAGRAT calls for up to 20% salary increment for workers

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) is seeking an urgent increase in salaries by between 15 and 20 percent, for all government workers, especially teachers.

In an interview with Citi News ahead of the May Day celebrations, the President of the association, Angel Carbonu, said the increased cost of living necessitated the call for salary increments.

“A 15 to 20 percent increment in income will not be bad looking at the situation that confronts us as workers,” he said.

“When it comes to food items, our wives and our sisters and our mothers will tell you that prices of these commodities have all shot up in the market,” Angel Carbonu added. “The banks that we work with [have written] to us as an organisation amending the interest rates that we have agreed with them.”

Also, ahead of the May Day celebration, the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) reiterated concerns with the conditions of service of its members.

It highlighted the non-conclusion of negotiation on the conditions of service for the public universities, the 2021 minimum wage, and the failure of some directors to implement the reviewed conditions for GES staff.

Its grievances compelled it to go on strike in January.

TEWU said the strike was necessitated by the failure of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to conclude negotiation on their demand for better conditions of service.

The union in a statement said it was not “happy with the way some GES directors want to use rough tactics by holding on to the old conditions of service with the excuse that they do not have the hard copy of the review document though the soft copy is available.”

On the conditions of service used for workers in public universities, TEWU said “we hope to have a clear indication on the way forward when the national labour commission makes pronouncements on the issue”.

Upon further clarity, it expressed hope that “Government agencies concerned will respect the outcome to sustain industrial harmony in our tertiary institutions.”