CASTRIES,
St Lucia, Friday January 11, 2013 - President of the Trade Union Federation
(TUF) Julian Monrose has accused Prime Minister Kenny Anthony of attacking
Civil Servants by accusing them of being greedy, unproductive and unpatriotic.
The
TUF President was responding to this weeks’ address to the nation in which
Prime Minister Anthony outlined the islands fiscal situation in response to
public servants demands for an 16% salary increase.
Monrose
told a news conference Thursday that his organisation is disappointed with the
address stating that the Prime Minister should not have approached the matter
in the manner he did in comparing the wages of public servants here to those in
other Caribbean territories.
“The
Prime Minister gave the distinct impression that public sector workers are
greedy, unproductive and unpatriotic and that is not so at all. We are
disappointed that the Prime Minister as the ultimate head of the public service
will address the public and seek to in our view put the public against public
servants,” he noted.
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| JULIAN MONROSE |
Monrose,
whose TUF leadership has been criticized as too easy going with the Kenny
Anthony administration as opposed to the past administration said that under
the former government there were many days of negotiations before the unions
moved to take strike action.
He
said he new government is being accorded the same courtesy and if it continues
to play hard ball the TUF will meet with its members and take the necessary
next step.
“Some
people have called us all kinds of names, some have suggested that we have sold
out, others say we are soft on this administration. But that is not so, there
are protocols there are processes, there are procedures to be followed and we
are following them.
“If
we get to the stage where we have exhausted all the processes and there appears
to be no solution we will meet with our members are take it from there,” he
added.
The
Trade Union President said his members are frustrated with the process. Their
talks with the Prime Minister earlier this week agreed that there be two
separate negotiation teams, one to handle salaries and the other fringe
benefits.
The
meeting also set a time frame of month end for the negotiations to be
completed.
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| POLICE WELFARE ASSOCIATION |
Meanwhile
the Police Welfare Association which is not grouped under the TUF has also
complained that its members were becoming impatient and were “very displeased”
with the progress of wage negotiations with the government.
President
Martin James hopes that members will be given a much needed salary increase,
adding that high risk benefits for Police officers represents some of other
benefits that must be considered.
“We
are dealing with potential benefits that we would have been receiving three
years ago now we are being asked to forego them, in my opinion that is really
an unfair request,” he said.
In
a nationwide radio and television broadcast Prime Minister Anthony, who is also
the Finance Minister, said the crux of the issue that faces the government is
the ability to meet the demands of its 9,500 workers for increases in their
wages by 15 per cent, spread over three years.
Public
sector trade unions have rejected an offer of zero per cent increase and a
onetime payment of EC$1,000 (One EC dollar= US$0.37 cents) and have called on
the intervention of the Prime Minister to reach an amicable solution.
Prime
Minister Anthony said the current proposal by the trade unions would increase
the government wage bill by an estimated EC$55 million annually while the back
pay associated with this proposal would cost about EC$40 million, “leading to a
worsening of the current deficit of close to EC$100 million for this financial
year.
“It
also means that for every ensuing year, Government would have to borrow an
extra EC$55 million just to meet the increase. This is clearly a path that a
responsible government should not take.
Anthony
said wages in St. Lucia “have been growing at a rapid pace while productivity
has been declining.
“To
put it more plainly, some persons are being paid more for producing less. GDP
(Gross Domestic Product) output has grown by an average of less than one
percent over the last three years, and it is projected to remain subdued in the
short term.
“If
we base wage increases only on inflation and not productivity or our ability to
pay, we are actually making our country poorer and making the goods and
services we produce less attractive to the outside world. I know that this is
an “inconvenient truth” but we must summon courage to face our reality,” he
added. (CMC)
SOURCE:
http://www.caribbean360.com/
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