Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler has urged Barbados’ public servants and workers’ unions to hold strain.
Sinckler earlier this month said general wage restraint in the public service “is going to be critical to achieving our goals”.
A hold on salary increases plus elimination of waste in Government and heightened efficiency in state enterprises were some of the key elements of the Government’s strategy to slash Barbados’ fiscal deficit to 5.3 per cent in the next financial year.
Sinckler said a need for wage restraint had already been communicated to public workers’ unions by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.
“It’s not a new position and it has been communicated to the unions,” he said.
“The unions, certainly in my pre-Budget consultations, have expressed a desire to work with the Government to see how we can get these matters worked through, both to the benefit of the country and the benefit of the hard-working public officers who have had to carry some burden in this recessionary period and may have to carry some additional burden going forward,” he noted.
Asked if the idea of a wage freeze had gone out the window, Sinckler said that nothing had been “thrown through the window” but the emphasis instead was on restraint and fiscal discipline.
The suggestion of a wage freeze was thrown into the public domain last year by then Minister of Economic Affairs Dr David Estwick.
Estwick described the freeze as “something we have to do”, adding, “We don’t have a choice. We don’t have the fiscal space” to do otherwise.
“We cannot interfere with wages and salaries,” he conceded in the February 1, 2010 DAILY NATION.
In response, the late Prime Minister David Thompson said: “Obviously this [wages] is a big concern to us. We have to manage the fiscal deficit and any slight increase in the wage bill will have serious implications for cutting expenditure in certain areas, particularly our social programme which would be undesirable.
“And we certainly are not contemplating layoffs or any reduction in wages.”
Estwick maintained his position in the May 2, 2010 SUNDAY SUN.
“I would suggest to the Prime Minister that it is an option that must always be there and it has to be considered in the context of Barbados’ fiscal position,” Estwick said.
“I am not going to bury my head in the sand. I think Barbadians are very intelligent people and if the matter is articulated to them, when they understand they are defending the economy of the country and they are protecting Barbados for the future development of their children and grandchildren, I think they will concur to what is reasonable at the time,” he added.
Meanwhile, former governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Sir Courtney Blackman said it would be “irresponsible” to give public employees across-the-board increases during these trying economic times.
According to the February 22, 2010 DAILY NATION Sir Courtney said public employees – including those at the lower end of the wage and salary scales – were adequately paid.
“A wholesale rise in public sector wages? I would say it would be irresponsible at this time,” Sir Courtney told the DAILY NATION when asked about the continuing vigorous public discussion over a proposal for a “moratorium” on any wage increases.
“There is not even an election on the horizon; so it’s not necessary. It would not only be irresponsible, but it would be unnecessary. Of course, that would not be a good reason [to raise wages because of an election],” he added.
Sir Courtney said Government could make a good case to increase the wages of a particular sector within the public service. But he insisted there shouldn’t be an across-the-board wage increase, given the current economic troubles the Government was confronted with.
“The only situation in which I could see the Government raising salaries at this time would be in a special area of need, if there was some area of the Public Service, identified by Government where there is a severe personnel or skill shortage which can only be repaired by increasing salaries in that sector,” he said.
Sir Courtney added: “The Government’s [financial] position is too weak to be talking about wage increases. This is a time for restraint. We are not talking about a society, a group of people who are poorly paid, certainly not at the bottom. I do think myself that top civil servants are adequately paid.
“Certainly the mass, the majority of civil servants, are reasonably well paid in Barbados.”
In the August 13, 2010 WEEKEND NATION general secretary of the Barbados Workers Union, Sir Roy Trotman, said public servants, like all Barbadians, were aware that for them to receive a salary increase, Government would have to raise taxes.
“But they also know that no one is willing to pay more taxes at this time,” the trade unionist said.
Speaking ahead of expected salary negotiations between the public service and the BWU, he said both parties will head to the bargaining table cognisant of the fact that any wage increases could lead to an introduction of new taxes.
He noted that it would be necessary to discuss the state of the economy before negotiations got started.
“What we will expect is some serious level of mature negotiating,” the general secretary said. “The public servants recognize the economic situation we are dealing with right now, but we do have to meet.”
