Government has denied that contract workers attached to its various ministries and state agenciesPublic Service Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westfordare being paid super-salaries.A government Member of Parliament said, yesterday, that it is willing to open up itself to scrutiny of the process.During the continuing 2012 Budget Debate in the National Assembly yesterday,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, Public Service Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westford,Cheap NFL Jerseys, insisted that contract workers are being paid on par with public servants.The issue of contract workers has been a major feature in recent years during the budget debates with Westford yesterday signalling the administration’s willingness to offer clarifications on any questions and issues raised with contract workers.The matter was raised again on Tuesday by Carl Greenidge,Cheap NFL Jerseys, a Parliamentarian of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and a former Finance Minister under the former People’s National Congress (PNC) Government.Greenidge accused Government of systematically destroying the public service by increasing the number of contract workers and paying them thousands of dollars more.“The budget also does not address increasing the capacity of engineers, an area in which Guyana is badly lacking in,” Greenidge said.Over the weekend the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) also said that it believes that it is Government’s intention to miniaturize the current Public Service structure,Chris Chelios Jersey, while implementing a parallel structure through contract employment.“The allocations for position on the fixed establishment have been increased by 8.4 per cent over the revised budget for 2011, while contract employment has increased by 15.875 per cent (almost double). The parallel public service, which in essence is more or less a political service, has impugned the independence of the Public Service.”GPSU’s President, Patrick Yarde,Wholesale Jerseys Authentic, said that the practice is illegal and baseless and should cease. All employees should be employed within the Public Service structure and remunerated in a fair and even handed manner receiving equal pay for work of equal value consistent with Government’s undertaking and obligations as a member state of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the union said.Yesterday again, Basil Williams of APNU, pointed out that while in 2004, Government had allocated $1.3B to pay contract workers, this year that figure in the National Budget has risen to $6B. The Supreme Court alone has 83 contract workers.He felt that positions were created for party faithfuls. The contract workers are given one year tenure with gratuities, he added.Williams went further. He accused Government of “building up an army” to possibly serve at the “pleasure of the government”.He urged Government to immediately do away with contract hiring of workers and to assimilate current ones into the public service and for the pay scales to be fixed to avoid them being “bunched”.Minister Westford, making a point that contract workers are prevalent in government agencies and is an option exercised,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, said that even at Parliament, there were 56 contract workers being paid comparative salaries to what public servants are receiving…the only difference is that the contract workers would receive their gratuity twice yearly.She demanded an apology for suggestions that contract workers may not be qualified for jobs.