Government Offers 4.5% Salary Increase in Latest Round of Talks

Just after two o’clock this afternoon, government negotiators and the joint unions exited the ITVET building after some four hours of negotiations and discussions.  Earlier this week, our newsroom learnt that the government would have slightly budged by offering a four-point five percent salary increase with the remaining four percent lined up for a definitive period.  The last proposal given to the public officers and teachers was four percent, which they vehemently rejected.  The joint unions have since begun their strike action in various forms and have often indicated that they want all or nothing in their negotiations.  When asked if the government is entering into an unsustainable situation, Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde would not give a direct response.

Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister: “It’s actually going to be four and a half percent October 1st of this year which is more than half of the original request of eight and a half percent. I wish we were closer, we had reached this point some time ago but we didn’t. Now we’re here and I think we are as close as we can get. I thought after our first meeting that we had a framework that could work but obviously that didn’t work. We went back to the table several times and hopefully this is it man. I’m praying for the best. I think we had a great discussion and I don’t want to prejudice whatever they have to do in terms of going back to their membership. I always try to avoid that. I always prefer for them to take it back to their membership. But I suffice to say that the government is committing to it, has committed to the 8.5 % from the get-go. We’re committed to it, absolutely, along with the two frozen increments over the next two years and so there are other stuff, but ultimately, hopefully, that they are able to get their membership to support and we reach past this impasse, so to speak.”

As it relates to the issue of pension, Deputy Hyde noted that there are several committees at work to ascertain the necessary information for the pension agreement.

Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister: “We have three joint committees, Cost Savings Committee, Revenue Enhancement Committee, and Pension Reform Committee and those committees have been working. That work continues. It’s about ensuring that they continue that work in earnest and try to expedite that process. We’ve discussed pension for a long time.  For 20 years, they’ve been discussing pension. We spent a lot of time over the last five years doing that too. But it’s not subjected to that. The offer is 8.5 % over two years, including two frozen increments over two years and for us to continue that work and because ultimately that has to be mutually agreed. Like the efforts in cost savings, the effort at revenue enhancement, the efforts at pension reform, those are mutually agreed. It’s not like a top-down kind of thing. We have joint committees that work in earnest, that it’s about making sure that they expedite that work and take it seriously, because we are serious about that.”