Things are heating up between the Government and the Public Service Union and reports are that the Prime Minister will hold a press conference tomorrow to address what is becoming a tense and tangled dispute.
As we told you last night, the dispute is basically over CIRCULAR NUMBER 5 from the Ministry of Finance sent out at the end of April.
It proposes for public officers to forego the salary increment for the 2020 to 2021 fiscal year. The PSU wants it deferred - meaning they will get it back when government's finances improve.
In a lengthy press release today, the PSU says it is willing to sacrifice but accused the government of less than good faith negotiations. The union says it wants to see the date behind cost saving and austerity measures - this includes a list of all contact officers and allowed they are paid.
The union is also looking at allowance to Ministers housing, entertainment and telephone allowances which it says amounts to almost 30 thousand dollars annually.
In his most recent letter to them, the Fin Sec said, quote, "Ministers of Government have agreed , consistent with one aspect of the case the Unions have earlier advanced, to give up half of their Housing and Telephone allowance. This is on top of forgoing one month's salary; and in aggregate far exceeds what Public Officers and Teachers are asked to forgo.If the PSU still rejects the proposalsthe Minister will seek, after hearing from you, to advise His Excellency the Governor General to amend the Public Service Regulations so as to give the Minister the power to alter salaries, emoluments and increments in order to deal with the current unprecedented situation." End quote.
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