New Year’s 2026 Message from Mr. Patrick M. Yarde, President/CEO – Guyana Public Service Union.
As we welcome the New Year 2026, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) extends greetings of hope and unity to our members, all Public Servants, the working people of this great nation, and all Guyanese at home and across the diaspora. This New Year is not only a turn of the calendar; it is also a decisive moment for reflection and renewed determination to continue the work ahead.
Public Servants are the quiet strength of this nation. Every day, in hospitals and clinics, classrooms, finance and budgeting offices, customs and revenue departments, air traffic control, social services, registries and courts, and across all public offices, you keep Guyana functioning. You serve with professionalism, dedication, and sacrifice, often under conditions that test your commitment and yet do not reflect the true value of your work. For this, the nation owes you more than words of appreciation; it owes you fairness and respect.
Over the last elections cycle, commitments were made to improve wages, ease the burden of the rising cost of living, strengthen public services, and ensure that workers share fairly in national progress. These promises raised legitimate expectations among Public Servants and their families. Yet, for too many, those expectations remain unmet. The gap between commitment and delivery continues to widen.
Of particular concern is the attempt to cite a 2024 collective bargaining outcome in a way that conflates it with a separate election-period commitment regarding a cash grant that was publicly promised as a 2025 payout. This misinterpretation has been used to justify not implementing that commitment, even though the cash grant was prominently highlighted during the recent national election campaign. Such negative and unenlightened conduct undermines developments undermine confidence, erode morale, place additional strain on household finances, and weaken trust between Public Servants and the State.
At the same time, recent actions demonstrate that decisive intervention is possible when essential workers are recognized as a national priority. The announcement by President Irfaan Ali of a one-month tax-free bonus for members of the Disciplined Services affirms both the importance of essential workers and the Government’s capacity to mobilize resources to improve compensation and morale when it is politically convenient.
This action reinforces the importance of the principle of equity. Essential services do not operate in isolation. Health workers, customs officers, air traffic controllers, technical officers, and administrative and accounting public servants are equally critical to national stability, human security, and development. Their daily contributions sustain communities, protect the vulnerable, and ensure the continuity of the State. The Union therefore maintains that all essential services must be considered within a fair, coherent, and transparent framework, one that recognizes contribution, addresses cost-of-living pressures, and ensures that no category of public servants is left behind.
One of the most painful consequences of inaction is the continued loss of skilled public servants, especially in the health and education sectors. Nurses, teachers, and other trained professionals are leaving not because they lack love for their country, but because they seek dignity, security, and opportunity for their families. A nation that invests in training its people must also invest in keeping them. Retaining our human resources is not optional; it is a national necessity.
In addition, the wisdom and experience of our retired Public Servants remain an untapped national resource. Retirement should not mean the end of purpose. There is a need to review the current retirement age of 55, with consideration given to raising it to 60 or higher, while maintaining the option of early retirement where necessary. Structured mechanisms are also needed to engage retirees in mentoring, training, advisory, and community development roles, preserving institutional memory while strengthening the next generation of public servants.
We also call on the Government to honour and implement the Agreement between the Guyana Public Service Union and the APNU Administration to restore the GPSU’s Sports Complex. Public Servants desire and deserve access to recreational and sporting facilities. Such facilities are not a luxury; they are essential to physical health, mental well-being, morale, and work-life balance. As the employer of Public Servants, the Government has a responsibility to support holistic worker welfare, and the long-standing delay in restoring this facility must now be reactivated.
As a Union, we enter 2026 with clear expectations and a firm commitment to advocacy. We call for respect for Collective Bargaining, for agreements signed between the Government of Guyana and the GPSU which are legally binding be fully implemented, and for full compliance with ratified International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions, especially ILO Convention 151. We urge Parliament to ratify ILO Convention 190 and its Recommendation 206 to protect workers from workplace violence and harassment. We insist on respect for the rule of law, workers’ rights, and the integrity of the Judiciary, and on a relationship between Government and Union grounded in good faith and meaningful dialogue.
In this context, another serious concern is the continued failure to issue the official circular implementing the increase in union dues. To date, this circular has not been issued by Ministry of Public Service, Government Efficiency and Implementation, despite completion of the required internal processes and several reminders from the GPSU to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary. This prolonged delay undermines effective union-member relations, weakens institutional capacity, and constrains the Union’s ability to deliver benefits and services to its members in a timely and transparent manner.
Union benefits are not optional extras; they are central to protecting members’ welfare. The Union’s capacity to provide representation, legal support, training and development opportunities, welfare assistance, Hospitalization, Dental, Optical, and medical benefits, and other member-support programmes depends on predictable and properly administered dues arrangements. Timely administrative action is therefore essential to safeguarding member benefits and maintaining confidence in the industrial relations system.
We continue to advocate for a living wage that reflects the actual cost of living; decent and safe working conditions; strong, well-resourced public services; and effective market-monitoring and price-control mechanisms to protect the purchasing power of working families.
In addition to the 10% and 8% salary increases for 2024 and 2025, and in the context of significantly improved economic performance, there remains scope for further increases. Accordingly, the Guyana Public Service Union has formally requested a meeting with the Government to engage in good-faith discussions on pay increases and a clear pathway towards a living wage for Public Sector Employees.
While the Union acknowledges measures taken to mitigate price pressures, these have not sufficiently protected workers’ purchasing power, particularly for those at the lower end of the pay scale. The Union has therefore proposed across-the-board wage adjustments, alongside the development of a bilateral wage policy to guide salary increases over the next five years, with priority attention to lower-paid workers.
In keeping with the Labour Act, Chapter 98:01, the GPSU has sought to commence immediate negotiations at a mutually agreeable time and venue, confident that constructive dialogue can lead to fair and sustainable outcomes. The Government has so far not responded to the Union's request which made since September 17, 2025.
This urgency is especially evident in the health sector, where facilities must be modernized, fully equipped, and adequately staffed; long-standing salary disparities corrected; unacceptable delays in paying trained professionals ended; and duty-free vehicle concessions for nurses implemented without further delay.
The Union has also placed on record practical proposals for Budget 2026, including fair tax reform, reduced VAT, housing support, and family-centred allowance measures designed to increase disposable income, ease financial pressure, and promote social stability. These are not reckless demands; they are reasonable solutions grounded in economic reality and social responsibility.
We also recognize that the world of work is changing. Artificial intelligence, digital systems, and institutional modernization are reshaping public service delivery. The GPSU therefore commits to a New Unionism, one that is informed, forward-looking, and resilient; one that builds capacity through education, research, leadership development, and digital competence; that protects workers in evolving workplaces; and that ensures technology serves people, not the other way around.
In keeping with this New Unionism, we propose establishing a specialized leadership development institution to equip public servants and other professionals with the skills needed to optimize performance in new and emerging work challenges. Such an institution would strengthen leadership, promote best practices, support institutional advancement, and enable more effective and meaningful contributions to organizational progress and national development.
As we move into 2026, we do so with hope and transparency, hope for unity and healing in our workplaces and society; hope for leadership that listens and acts in good faith; hope for fairness that is timely and not postponed or disregarded; and hope for progress that is shared, inclusive, and lasting.
Let this be a year when words give way to action; when promises are honoured; when skilled public servants are retained; and when the dignity of labour is fully respected. Let this be a year when the employer, the State, is inclusive, and public servants are treated as true partners in nation-building.
We call on all members to remain united, vigilant, and engaged. Unity is our strength. Together, united and resolute, we will continue to advocate, engage, and stand firm, building a stronger Union, higher-quality public services, and a better future for all.
We wish you a Happy, Peaceful, Prosperous and Productive 2026.
God bless you all.
January 1, 2026.