(Trinidad Guardian) Four trade unions have condemned the Salaries Review Commission’s (SRC) proposed salary increase for Government officials. Vexatious, a slap in the face, insulting, an egregious injustice, gross disrespect and betrayal was how the trade unions described the recommended increases for several of the country’s top public officials, including Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, President Christine Kangaloo, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Cabinet ministers. The Government may accept or reject the recommendation.
The SRC’s recommendations for these new remuneration packages come ten years after MPs and ministers got a pay hike. The last pay hike was in March 2014 from the November 2013 recommendation of the SRC’s 98th report.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s salary will see a huge hike once the recommendations of the Salaries Review Commission (SRC) 117th report that was tabled in the House of Representatives on Friday obtain the approval of the Cabinet.
Dr Rowley’s salary will increase from $59,680 to $80,000 a month.
The SRC, however, removed the duty allowance formerly received by Rowley of $8,680, so the effective increase is in the vicinity of $11,640.
Rowley’s entire remuneration package is subject to tax.
The report recommended that President Christine Kangaloo’s pay move from $64,270 to $73,920 tax-free.
The increase would also benefit Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar whose salary would shift from $29,590 to $47,500.
The pay packets of Cabinet ministers would jump from $41,030 to $47,500.
Chief Justice Ivor Archie’s salary seems to be the only public official’s monthly salary which remains constant at $50,350.
Yesterday, president of the National Trade Union Centre Michael Annisette questioned the basis for the increase, given that Government has been calling on the population to do more with less.
Annisette said while parliamentarians were in line for bigger and better pay packages, “the same principles, concepts and ideology must be handed down to the ordinary citizen, middle-class workers and low-income earners”.
He said while the SRC proposed a fatter pay cheque for Dr Rowley, “public servants are being forced into wage slavery, some even working two jobs to make ends meet. You cannot have that kind of disparity and division within a society.”
he said: “I would also add that the same measure must be across the board. It must not be for a selected few because when we do that we are building a society that is divided.”
Annisette said this does not augur well as we are seeing a growing trend of “income and wealth inequalities.”
“Their wages are not a reflection of the true economic and financial challenges that they have to go through. We cannot build that false premise that those who are at the top are entitled to salaries which I am not arguing about, but what I am saying is that the ordinary worker too deserves to have a proper income to survive.”
He said it was” insulting and disingenuous” for those at the top to get these huge wage hikes and “then tell public servants to take crumbs.”
“When you pay people peanuts you will get monkeys to perform the job.”
Annisette was referring to the four per cent back pay paid to public sector workers last Christmas.
“We have always articulated that the four per cent was a deliberate attempt by the Government to depress wages. It was shoved down the public servants’ throats,” he said, while the SRC had no problem putting forward these hefty proposals that would be funded by the taxpayers.
Annisette said on one hand Government was telling the country to tighten its belt but the SRC had no problems raising their salaries.
Weighing in on the issue, Keone Guy, president of the Fire Service Association of T&T said the association “vehemently opposes the proposed salary adjustments.”
He stated that while senior government members are poised to receive a hefty 20 to 30 per cent increase as reported, “offering a mere four per cent over six years to public servants, including firefighters, is an egregious injustice.”
Noting that their members put their lives on the line daily, Guy said they are being undervalued and neglected.
“This discrepancy is not only a slap in the face to firefighters but also a betrayal of the essential services they provide to society.”
Guy said the recommendation to absorb or incorporate the duty allowance into the salaries of the PM and others “is a covert attempt to ensure a further increase in an already hefty retirement package.”
He said he expects leaders in our society to strive toward equity.
Meanwhile, president of the Prison Officers’ Association Gerard Gordon said what the association has been witnessing does not come as a “surprise”.
He said what the association continues to see is irresponsible leadership and management by the country’s administration.
“And I place no water in my mouth to say that notwithstanding the recommendation of the SRC, I am waiting to see these parliamentarians agree to this foolishness.”
He said it cannot be that what is good for public servants “is not good for those who we have been elected into office. They seem to only be concerned with serving themselves.”
Under the gloom and doom Government continues to paint, Gordon said, the recommendation was “a gross disrespect and another instance where we see by their actions that they do not care about the population of T&T.”
He said the working class and citizens are “being insulted by this ridiculous recommendation.”
Gordon said Cabinet ministers and parliamentarians receive their entire salary and allowances as their pension.
He cited the Opposition Leader as one of the highest paid parliamentarians.
“Because she’s receiving her pension when she was prime minister and also the salary of the Leader of the Opposition.”
Gordon said he was not against people obtaining a pay hike.
“But what we are averse to is that on one hand the same State, the same Prime Minister, the same Finance Minister, all of these people whose heed and cry was that they couldn’t afford to pay, they ignored the fact that we looking at inflation that has obliterated any sort of ability for the working class to advance and save their families. These are the same people now who are seeking to justify.”
He said to add insult to injury the increase was not miniscule. “A 30 per cent increase!”
Gordon said the union has taken note of the recommendations.
He said that for Dr Rowley to accept the pay hike would be to confirm “what people were assuming all along, that they do not care about the working class in T&T.”
He said members in the association’s WhatsApp groups have been venting their displeasure.
“People are not pleased at all. In fact, if they could find some way to ensure that those increases never come to those officers, I believe they would do that. That is the level of disgust and disdain you are seeing amongst all of the membership.”
General Secretary of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) Ozzi Warwick said the union will hold a press conference tomorrow.
However, Warwick said the SRC’s recommendations are “vexatious and provocative” at this time.
Several calls to president of the Public Services Association Leroy Baptiste’s cellphone yesterday went unanswered.
Current salaries vs proposed increases
Office Current salary Proposed Increase
President $64,270 $73,920 $9,650
Prime Minister $59,680 $80,000 $20,320
Opposition Leader $29,590 $47,500 $17,910
MPs $17,410 $20,660 $3,258
Chief Secretary $41,030 $47,500 $6,470
Cabinet Minister $41,030 $47,500 $6,470
Senate President $29,590 $39,300 $$9,710
House Speaker $29,590 $42,500 $12,910
