CASTRIES,
St. Lucia, Wednesday December 5, 2012 – The St. Lucia government Wednesday
denied reports that ministers were to receive a 30 per cent salary increase.
A
statement from the Office of The Prime Minister said the reports were
“mischievous and untrue”.
Media
reports claimed that the Kenny Anthony administration, which has urged public
officers to accept a wage freeze for the 2010-12 period, was now giving consideration
to the recommendations of the Salary Review Commission (SRC) for the increase.
The
government said that the former administration had appointed the SRC to review
the salaries of numerous officials and parliamentarians and that “to date, the
Commission has not submitted its final report to the government of St. Lucia.
“Indeed,
the life of the Commission had to be extended to allow it to complete its
work,” the statement said, adding that the former Stephenson King government
“proceeded to increase the salaries of senior public officers by as much as
thirty percent in some cases before the completed report was laid in
parliament.”
The
statement noted that it is a little surprising that these allegations could
surface when the public sector has a representative on the Commission.
It
said in any event, the report of the Commission would have to be laid in
Parliament as required by law, so it would be available for public scrutiny.
The
St. Lucia Trade Union Federation (SLTUF), which walked out of the negotiations
last week after being offered a zero per cent increase for the three years and
a one-time payment of EC$1,000 (One EC dollar = US$0.37 cents), is due to
return to the bargaining table Thursday.
The
SLTUF said that its members have given a mandate to accept nothing less than
their original offer of 16 per cent for the triennium. (CMC)
SOURCE:
http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/st_lucia_news/641282.html#ixzz2EEF0cRyu
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