Once again the issue of pay negotiations in the public sector has been highlighted in the media. This time it concerns Caribbean Airlines and the Airline Pilots' Association where the pilots have been operating on 2010 fixed salaries. The three arms of the protective services (police, fire and prisons) are currently in a battle to conclude negotiations for the period 2011 to 2013. There have recently been agreements with the public servants, teachers and bus drivers, also for periods dating back several years, none of which include pay rates for the current or future years.
In the USA, President Barack Obama has just agreed to a 2015 pay rise of one per cent for the armed forces which takes effect on July 1, and a pay increase of 1.8 per cent for the year 2016. This was done so that budgetary measures can be put in place to meet the additional expenditure. In the UK it is custom and practice for public sector pay negotiations to be concluded at least three months before they become effective.
Also in the UK, public sector spending is determined for three years in advance so that all parties (employers and unions) know what monies are likely to be made available and what amounts may be allocated to pay increases.
So why is T&T always operating in the past and always playing catch up. As everyone knows, these agreements are fraught with major problems. Main amongst them is the question of, from where is this money (billions) coming?Another issue is when is this money to be paid because workers have to wait up to five years for an agreement and years to get their money while working under outdated pay packages.
There has been talk about requiring wheel barrows to transport all that back pay, what the workers should and should not do with the money, whether to splash out on houses or foreign consumer goods or invest in financial institutions which in itself can be a risky business–banks paying one per cent interest while inflation is at five per cent etc.The powers that be must now realise they are in the 21st Century and put in place appropriate policies, systems and procedures to get there.
Is the motive to keep T&T forever a third world state? Modernisation is desperately needed.
Jim Jhinkoo
Public Sector consultant