Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 10/Oct 07:19

That stubborn 10 per cent

THE EDITOR: Despite our current severe financial constraints, I believe the government will honour its promise to grant the Public Services Association (PSA) a ten per cent salary increase for public servants for the 2014-2019 period. By making that offer one of the cornerstones of its election campaign, the UNC has effectively placed the government up the proverbial creek without a paddle. The administration must now somehow locate the billions needed to meet this commitment – at a time of falling revenue, mounting debt, and the looming threat of a credit rating downgrade. This financial dilemma may also explain why the government has yet to announce a date for the national budget (as of the time of this writing, October 5). In previous years, budgets were either already presented or at least scheduled within the first week of October. The delay suggests to me that Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo is spending many sleepless nights trying to reconcile this stubborn ten per cent promise with the competing demands of other national priorities. However, the issue does not end there. Little public discussion has emerged on what happens after the 2014-2019 negotiations are settled. Once that period is concluded, attention will inevitably turn to the already outstanding negotiations for 2020-2022. This raises several questions: Would the PSA move swiftly to settle that period as well? Would it be willing to accept the five per cent increase agreed to by other unions, such as the TT Unified Teachers’ Association for the equivalent period? Is the cost of this potential increase already being calculated and budgeted for by the minister? Emboldened by its success, would the PSA demand more? Or given its close relationship with the government, would the union accept a wage freeze over the next five years? If it’s the latter, would this be acceptable to the general membership? Another concern is how this settlement might influence other unions which are close to the government, especially the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union. This union represents employees in several state enterprises, like the National Petroleum Marketing Company Ltd and its subsidiary Natpet Investments Company Ltd (same union, but different negotiations). Workers at these companies also have unresolved negotiations dating back to 2014. Once the PSA receives its ten per cent increase, would the OWTU demand parity? And if offered less, would its members accept it quietly – or could it reignite industrial unrest across the state sector? The government’s ten per cent offer to the PSA is therefore more than a labour agreement with that entity. Given its close relationship with other unions, that decision will no doubt resonate throughout the industrial relations landscape, particularly at other companies that fall under its purview. Once PSA members are paid and this door is opened, the rest of the labour movement will surely want to follow. Was this considered when the offer was made to the PSA? I cannot say, but one thing is certain: there are interesting times ahead in what seems for now to be a blissful marriage between this government and the labour movement. CLAUDE A JOB via e-mail The post That stubborn 10 per cent appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.