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CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago

The public discourse continues on the Cabinet's approval of the Salaries Review Commission's wage increase for parliamentarians. Among the concerned, members of the labour movement have taken issue with the government's decision to settle its own wages, while there are thousands of public workers who are awaiting same.

Transcript
00:00The recent approval of the Salaries Review Commission's report by the Cabinet has further
00:05inflamed sentiments within the labour movement, with many union leaders calling the decision
00:10unacceptable and out of touch with the realities facing workers.
00:15The Communications Workers' Union is the latest to add its voice to the Prime Minister's
00:18announcement last Thursday.
00:20Via media release, the union said, quote, in what appears to be a last-gasp attempt
00:25by the entitled elite to maintain its share of our country's coffers, the vulgar salary
00:30adjustments, along with the worsening foreign debt, have set the stage for a massive flight
00:35of capital-unexposed political bandits, with accountability relegated to being a so-called
00:42dirty word, end quote.
00:44Meanwhile, Michael Arnisat, President of the Seamen and Waterfront Workers' Union, and
00:49the General Secretary of NATOC, described the move as one without common sense.
00:54Where is the justification, where is the common sense, and where is the understanding that
01:02you do not build a society on the basis of inequality and inequity?
01:09Mr Arnisat said, quote, workers are up in arms over the government's decision to accept
01:14the latest recommendations of the Salaries Review Commission after a 13-year wait, while
01:20they have not received an increase for the past 12 years.
01:24They feel betrayed by the decision of the cabinet, and there are several questions that
01:35was raised.
01:36And quite rightly so.
01:37How are we being asked, as workers, who are the productive force, because the port is
01:45a productive force, because what we produce helps the GDP of the economy, one?
01:51And how are we asked to burn our bellies until 2027, and the prime minister comes now and
01:58say that he's accepting a recommendation, all right, and then he's not concerned about
02:06the right and the wrong of the recommendation.
02:10The SWWTU president gave an update on last Friday's meeting with the Port Authority.
02:16We had put on the table two proposals for the port consideration, which we believe that
02:24in the interest of productivity and really transforming the port, it is a requirement
02:31that the port must seriously look at.
02:33We await the Port Authority to get back to us.
02:38They would have asked time to go and do the analysis and their projections, so that they
02:45can engage us thereafter.
02:49So we are waiting with optimism.
02:54Akshaya Galstani, TV6 News.
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