RHON­DOR DOWLAT

Se­nior Re­porter

rhon­dor.dowlat@guardian.co.tt

Oral Saun­ders, the pres­i­den­tial can­di­date on the Unit­ed Pub­lic Of­fi­cers (UPO) slate in the up­com­ing Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) elec­tions, is ap­peal­ing to po­lit­i­cal lead­ers to shift their pri­or­i­ties to ad­dress the on­go­ing fi­nan­cial strain on pub­lic of­fi­cers.

He not­ed that pub­lic ser­vants con­tin­ue to strug­gle with 2013 salaries in 2025, forc­ing many to make dif­fi­cult fi­nan­cial de­ci­sions each month, pri­ori­tis­ing which bills to pay and which to post­pone.

Saun­ders is urg­ing Prime Min­is­ter-des­ig­nate Stu­art Young to stand in sol­i­dar­i­ty with work­ers by re­ject­ing the re­cent­ly ap­proved Salary Re­view Com­mis­sion (SRC) wage in­creas­es when he as­sumes of­fice. He em­pha­sised the need for lead­er­ship that pri­ori­tis­es pub­lic ser­vice over per­son­al gain.

“We need a leader who is self­less, who un­der­stands the sac­ri­fices work­ers make dai­ly,” Saun­ders said.

“Pub­lic of­fi­cers have tight­ened their fi­nan­cial belts for far too long, and we can­not con­tin­ue to bear these hard­ships alone.”

He al­so wants Young to com­mit to ac­cept­ing what­ev­er fi­nal salary ad­just­ments pub­lic of­fi­cers and oth­er pub­lic sec­tor work­ers ne­go­ti­ate with his gov­ern­ment.

“In dif­fi­cult times, work­ers need to know that their prime min­is­ter is with them. No leader should ask cit­i­zens to sac­ri­fice while ex­empt­ing them­selves from that same bur­den,” he said.

Saun­ders al­so urged Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar to make the same com­mit­ment if she is elect­ed. He said both lead­ers must set an ex­am­ple by re­fus­ing the SRC in­creas­es.

“Our lead­ers must lead by ex­am­ple. It is time to chart a new path—one where lead­er­ship means stand­ing with the peo­ple, not above them,” he said.

Ef­forts to reach Young and Per­sad-Bisses­sar for com­ment were un­suc­cess­ful.