Tripartite negotiations between the union movement, the government and employers made slight progress this Friday, September 29 at the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service.
Indeed, the government, which had initially proposed a 15% salary increase for civil servants and retirees, revised its offer upwards, now bringing it to 20%. For their part, the unions also agreed to reduce their demands to 90%.
Leaving the room, the president of the union negotiations commission, Abdoulaye Barry, stressed that the positions had not evolved much.
“As you know, we agreed to show goodwill by reducing our claims to show the mediation and employers our commitment to resolving this situation. Unfortunately, the government does not seem to share this mindset, especially after mentioning that according to ECOWAS it was possible to allocate up to 35% of tax revenues to salaries. However, with the figures they gave us, we are still very far from this objective.
This is why we are launching an appeal to the Prime Minister, head of government, as well as to the President of the transition, who promised us, during our meeting with President Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya in September 2021, to reform the Guinean trade union movement so that he can speak with one voice.
We strongly hope that they can reassess the salaries of workers in the Republic of Guinea, with a starting salary set at 820,000 GNF. A 20% increase is insignificant compared to this demand. In the interests of workers, we therefore ask the government to reconsider the situation. Otherwise, we will be forced to take our responsibilities,” he warned.