PIARCO
“Let’s not overreact.”
These were the words of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday when asked about the threat by trade unions that they would “shut down the country” in the coming days, having rejected the offer by the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) of two per cent over an eight-year negotiation period.
Last Thursday, CPO Dr Daryl Dindial, in his counterproposal to trade unions, offered no increase for the period 2014-2017, one per cent for 2018, no further increase for the period 2019-2020, and one per cent for the 2021 negotiating period. That amounts to a two per cent increase over eight years.
The offer was made to hourly, daily, and weekly rated workers of central government, the Tobago House of Assembly and municipal corporation employees.
At a news conference at Piarco International Airport upon returning to the country from Guyana yesterday, Rowley said he had been made aware of the response of the unions, and he understood where it was coming from.
However, he wanted to make it clear that the Government was trying to strike a balance in what it was capable of offering, along with job sustainability and perseverance.
“What this Government has done since 2015 is to make it quite clear that we are in support of improvement of conditions and of the sustainability of jobs in the public service. Even during our most difficult periods over the last few years, have we tried to solve our difficulties by removing public servants from their jobs, or retrenching them? And this is our seventh year in government. We have never taken that policy once in attempting to balance the budget.
“We said we would preserve the jobs as opposed to giving more to some while others lose their jobs. To that end, we have borrowed money, very early in our existence, and paid about $6 billion in backpay to those public servants. And, of course, that backpay was kicked in at the same time with a slight increase in pay. We’ve had difficult service since then. The statement of the Minister of Finance (Colm Imbert) recently was very clear, there is a little breathing space now. And immediately we looked to add something to public servants with the aim of preserving the jobs but to also see what we can add. Clearly what was offered has offended some people, but don’t try to get derailed from wanting more from less,” Rowley said.
Rowley noted that the current public service wage bill was $8.7 billion.
With the proposed two per cent increase, he said there would be an additional cost on recurrent of $175 million in COLA, an estimated $1 billion in backpay, and then an increase in monthly wages of $411 million.
“And that’s just from the two per cent increase. If perchance we have a four per cent increase which some are talking about, backpay would see an increase to $1.8 billion, and the running cost would increase by $588 million. And then you hear people talk about ten and 15 per cent. At ten per cent, backpay payment would jump to $4.5 billion and there would be an increased running cost of $1.1 billion.
“Now put that against a recent report of a slight increase in revenue from the Minister of Finance and then the huge debt this country ran up pre-Covid and during Covid and then come to a conclusion if shutting down the country is an appropriate response to these circumstances. We would love to give the public servants as much as they expect but it has to be tempered by the reality. Do not for one minute be guided by the fact of current oil prices standing at about US$100. Because the oil market overnight can change. So if we commit ourselves to making payments on what prevails now, and then tomorrow the price drops to US$60 or US$50 we would have worsened our position. Reason is required and patience is essential. I think you would want us to continue providing jobs and improved payment but let us not get too carried away,” Rowley said.
Shut down threat
Last Friday, National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) president general James Lambert said he found the CPO’s offer “very disrespectful”.
“This is the worst offer in the history of this country to trade unions. This Government is showing that they do not care about the working class and we had enough of this nonsense. We are ready to shut down the country and hit the streets in our numbers. They take the workers for granted,” Lambert said.
He said what had him most upset was the fact that Finance Minister Colm Imbert boasted earlier this week that the country is experiencing increased revenues due to high prices of oil and now workers are being told to take zero percent for six years and two percent.
“Very shortly the workers will know the date and time when protest will commence along with the shutdown strategy. I really feel sorry for the CPO, you know…because he has to do the dirty work for the Government,” he added.
When he presented his mid-year review last Monday, Imbert said the T&T economy is set to generate an additional $4.5 billion to $5 billion this year due to a general recovery in most sectors of the economy and higher oil and gas prices.
