PSU President Criticizes Lack of Consultation on New Public Service Policies

President of the Public Service Union (PSU) Dean Flowers has registered his concerns over the absence of consultations with the union regarding the new policies on increments and promotions within the public service.  Flowers called in on The Morning Show today as the Minister of Public Service, Henry Usher, was a guest speaking on the these new policies that were announced yesterday.  According to Flowers, the ministry should have consulted on the matter as it would affect members of the PSU.

Dean Flowers, President, PSU: “There has been meaningful progress made in trying to improve the public service and I think that I must recognize some of the efforts by the minister and his team within the Ministry of Public Service in doing so and applaud those efforts because we’ve come a long way from where we were. As it relates to the constitution and adherence to the constitution this is what we’re asking the minister who is responsible for constitutional reform to do. Section 106,6 of the constitution is clear there it mandates that there be consultation with the representative of workers before policy decisions are taken. I have written to the Ministry of Public Service complaining on these policy decisions over and over. As a matter of fact I wrote last month, the minister acknowledged my correspondence and lo and behold yesterday a new policy decision on human resource comes out. Minister this is a clear violation of what’s in the constitution , the highest law in this country. This is a violation against the regulation which already sets out how these things are to be treated.”

In his response to PSU President Flowers, Minister Usher conceded that they may have missed the proverbial boat when it comes to the consultations.  He did say, however, that he is prepared to meet with the union to further discuss.

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service: “The Ministry of Public Service has been meeting with the Public Service Union, we haven’t met in some months I must admit that but we had been meeting and this is an issue that has come up with the PSU on more than one occasion. True it hasn’t been done in a formal manner in terms of consultation at the joint staff level but it is something that we have discussed because it is something that has been raised in terms of how we are going to keep the wage bill from ballooning out of control and that is an area that the wage bill just continues to go up. I take his point that in terms of a formal policy maybe it should have gone to joint staff first and the joint staff has not met, we have gotten the appointments or we have gotten the persons nominated for the position. Joint staff is a council made up of the PSU, Ministry of Public Service, Ministry of Finance and the APSSM those four organizations have representation on the Join Staff Relations Council where issues of policy are made, issues having to do with different things even like allowances that’s an area that the joint staff looks at and yes I spoke to the CEO about making sure that he calls the Joint Staff as soon as possible, a meeting of the Joint Staff and so we can look at these policies but I do take the president’s point in terms of policies coming out with the Joint Staff formally looking and approving the policies. So the point is taken and certainly CEO Zetina and I will get back to the PSU in terms of when the Joint Staff Relations Council meeting will be held and so we can look at all of these different policies coming out.”

According to the release issued yesterday, those who are enrolling in degree programs will have to ensure that they acquire a well-rounded education before becoming eligible for an increment or promotion.  This would mean that they would have had to undergone more than 36 credit hours to be considered.  For those with Master’s Degrees, they would have to have written an individual dissertation which would be required as proof.  In the case of Executive Master’s Degree programs, the ministry indicated that there will have to show proof of a Bachelor’s Degree or demonstrate a minimum of ten years managerial or supervisory experience with a detailed resume for assessment.  Again, these guidelines are for those public officers who are enrolling in learning institutions on or after October 1 this year, and are being done to standardize conditions of service and benefits for government employees across the Belize Public Service. It is a change to the policy until a review is completed by the Ministry of Education’s Accreditation Board.  Additionally, effective October 1, any new entrants into the public service will be required to complete a 6-month training program at the University of Belize.