A number of unions are now in receipt of government's 5% offer letter for the period 2020-2022. As Rynessa Cutting reports, the unions are already rejecting the proposals.
00:00Trade unions are preparing for another round of negotiations after receiving the government's 5% offer this week.
00:07The Public Services Association, one of about three unions which refused to accept the previous 4%,
00:14is not surprisingly also rejecting this offer for the period 2020 to 2022.
00:20How would you describe it? Just one word.
00:23Perverse. Perverse. It reflects the hypocrisy of those in charge.
00:32This offer starts off by saying again, no consolidation of COLA. Yes?
00:39And of course, in the usual style of the CPO, it is nothing more than his role as a messenger.
00:51The PSA president notes that the CPO just approved a healthy increase for himself and his pairs
00:57and laments that the gap between the haves and the have-nots is ever widening.
01:02The CPO, what is proposed for him, that 30% increase, plus he gets a professional allowance,
01:10will create a literally over $47,000 pay package.
01:15Whereas the highest level in the public service is a person getting just over $19,000.
01:20If he was to get a 100% increase, we will reach nowhere near what the CPO gets for himself.
01:30The Fast Service Association is also pushing back against the 5% offer.
01:35We have received a written offer from him, only within the last 24 hours,
01:41and we will be presenting that offer to our central executive before we make any public comments on it.
01:49I will say this, however, that we at this point remain extremely concerned in the process that is being undertaken.
01:56It seems to fly in the face of well-established practices and what the regulations would prescribe.
02:05The Fast Service Association is one of a number of unions which has members still awaiting back pay from 2023,
02:12but says it's no fault of the Ministry of Finance.
02:15We still remain with approximately just over 200 officers who are still without,
02:24or who are still yet to receive the retroactive payments for the collective bargaining period from 2014 to 2019.
02:33Unfortunately, the Fast Service does not have any assigned auditing staff.
02:41So as a result, they are totally dependent on the auditing staff assigned to the Ministry of National Security,
02:46who is also responsible for carrying out audits in other arms of the protective services as well.
02:55Meantime, the Prisons Officers Association confirms that less than 100 prisons officers are still awaiting 2023 back pay due to administrative issues.
03:05And as for the 5% offered, President Gerard Gordon notes it's much less than the 18% requested.
03:12Like I've been telling officers as I meet them, this is part of the process.
03:18If it is negotiation, which we are holding steadfastly to, is that that is the starting point,
03:28and that certainly we don't expect it to be the ending point.
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