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  • 2 days ago
Former Labour Minister and former President of the Public Services Association, Jennifer Baptiste Primus, says she feels sorry for the current head of the PSA. She further adds that contrary to what others are saying about the 10% , the PSA is the benchmark that sets the standard for all other unions.

More from Nicole M Romany.
Transcript
00:00Former Labour Minister Jennifer Batiste Primus tells the TV6 Morning Edition
00:05that any agreement struck between the PSA and the CPO should have been properly formalized.
00:12She points out that a video circulating in the media shows the PSA president and the CPO signing a document
00:20and she's now asking what exactly was signed.
00:23This after Finance Minister Dave Tanku has confirmed that PSA members will receive a Christmas boost
00:31through an advance on the arrears owed to them.
00:35However, when it comes to the PSA's push for the entire $3.8 billion in back pay to be issued in cash,
00:43he's stepped short of giving a clear yes, a position the PSA president says was not part of their agreement.
00:50Today, Batiste Primus says the PSA president has found herself in a ticklish situation.
00:57The president of the PSA is another woman like myself.
01:02I feel somewhat sorry for her because she is up a literal picketry, as the old people would say,
01:13and in order to extricate herself from it, a pound of flesh would be left on that picket trench.
01:20She is not clear how to extricate herself.
01:24Batiste Primus says there must be clarity on what the CPO means by an initial advance.
01:31She questions whether this refers to one, two or three months of pay being given up front
01:37or whether the government is talking about issuing bonds instead.
01:41The former Labour minister says the situation is obvious for anyone who understands the process,
01:48yet the PSA president remains silent on the realities.
01:52What we find happening right now is that the president of the PSA is afraid to identify the elephant in the room.
02:02You cannot blame the chief personnel officer.
02:05You cannot blame the chief personnel officer for this situation.
02:12Everyone is aware that the chief personnel officer takes his instructions from the minister of finance.
02:23Batiste Primus says what the PSA head has signed is known as a partial agreement,
02:29and such an agreement cannot be registered with the special tribunal of the industrial court.
02:35She further asks how such an error could have occurred,
02:39noting that both parties must agree on what is documented.
02:44She says, given the finance minister's recent statement and reports in today's Express,
02:49it is clear that a key element of the agreement is missing.
02:53Batiste Primus believes the PSA president has been used, and now the government is moving forward.
03:00She was promoted at WASA.
03:03She received a salary increase.
03:05She was handsomely rewarded by this present government.
03:10And clearly, this present government has no further need for the president of the PSA.
03:16She has been used, and they are moving on, so that this impasse that has developed between the chief personnel officer and the PSA
03:30may very well have to go back to the special tribunal.
03:35Separately, she stresses that the PSA sets the standard for all public sector negotiations,
03:41and the government cannot treat other unions differently without risk.
03:46In the public sector, the PSA is the benchmark for the settlement of negotiation.
03:54And Marlon, let me tell you this, the government, that issue of parity, the government cannot,
04:01and I say it boldly, the government cannot treat the other public sector unions differently
04:09because there is an organization called the International Labour Organization
04:16to which unions can report the government.
04:20Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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