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Jules Vasquez- Reporter
"Obviously you are sticking to the position that they must forego. Why not entertain the proposal of a deferral, since they say it will amount to more or less the same cost to government or the same savings for government?"

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow- Prime Minister
"It is not fair for the public servants who are not having their substantive salaries touched to insist that we won't give up. We will merely deferr. When you compare to the others in the very public sector, such as the CEOs such as the contract officers, what they give up, they won't get back, you know. When they give up their 5% of their gratuity, when they cut their entertainment or allowances they have, it is not by way of any deferral, it is by way of a cessation. Why on earth should the other public officers, the bulk of the public service, insist that everybody must give up completely for a year in the first instance when they must not. I don't think that is fair. We have to try to preserve some notion of equity."

Jules Vasquez
"The letter from the Financial Secretary, May 4th , addressed to the president of the PSU says, if the PSU still rejects the proposals the Prime Minister intends to advice his excellency the Governor General to amend the public service regulations, so as to give the minister the power to alter salaires and voluments and increments in order to deal with the current unprecedented situation. Is this a position which you maintain Mr. Prime Minister? In view of the fact that there is a spirited opposition, which as you know, has thousands of members."

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow
"I will have no hesitation at all in making use of the SI to in fact impose the foregoing of the increments. I repeat that at this juncture I will see no need to go beyond that because I will borrow and borrow and borrow until I can borrow no more to preserve the substantive salaries of these substantive public officers."