The Government’s plan to compulsorily save a portion of public workers’ pay has taken a new turn. It is to become a “National Meeting Plan” – a nod to the age-old practice of personal savings pools – and trade unions have been told to come up with a way to put it into practice, Barbados TODAY has learned.
Government gave trade unions until the end of next month to deliberate the proposed meeting plan during a three-hour long meeting of the Social Partnership today.
President of the National Union of Public Workers Akanni McDowall said the information received at the meeting would be first discussed with union members before any decisions were made.
He told Barbados TODAY: “The discussion was around a National Meeting Plan; it’s no longer called a forced savings plan. Some information was shared with the union and what we would like to do at this point is to meet with our individual committees so that we can share that information with them and then we will have a broader discussion with the general membership and then eventually the public.
“They said that they would like us to conclude our meetings and our internal discussions by the end of June.”
While describing the meeting as “cordial”, the union leader said he could not go into details as to what transpired before meeting with their members.
McDowall said: “I believe generally that we had a cordial discussion. The points that public servants would have wanted us to raise in the meetings I believe that those points were made.
“Now it is up to us to take back all of the information to our members and see what they decide and obviously we can communicate that to the Government and by extension the public.”
Speaking during a virtual service of thanksgiving on Sunday, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said discussions were set to continue surrounding a National Pandemic Solidarity Bonds offer.
She insisted she was not in favour of cutting the wages of public servants.
Mottley said: “We are not interested in cutting persons’ pay but we are interested in creating a scenario where we can carry as many Barbadians as possible.
“To that extent therefore, what we’re proposing is a form of forced savings, what I’m now going to call a national meeting turn.
“And believe you me, every public servant and every person who is paid by Government will receive their full salary package.”
Mottley said while the majority will be paid in cash, Government will also be asking some workers to look at bonds that will carry interest rates of five per cent.
The Prime Minister said: “The Government is going to have to be the one driving the capital works programme in Barbados, dealing with water, dealing with roads, dealing with cleaning the country, dealing with building gabions, dealing with fixing schools that are the subject of environmental problems every week, or other facilities that Government has that literally are in bad need of repair”.
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If it’s now going to be ‘national meeting hand’, then obviously the first principle would have to be that it’s voluntary. I have never heard of a meeting hand where you have to be in it even if you don’t want to. If individual public sector workers choose to accept the government bonds on that basis, then that’s their choice. If however, any individual is forced to be part of the ‘national meeting hand’, whether by the union leadership or government, then it’s not a meeting hand at all.
The government is persisting with this idea, claiming that its aim is to “carry as many Barbadians as possible”. But there’s a simpler and much fairer way to “carry as many Barbadians as possible”. That is that those who have benefited the most over the last 6 decades from turning the island from a sugar cane plantation into a one legged tourism economy must put their hands in their pockets and put some money on the table now that the wheels have come off the donkey cart that they, and the politicians they paid for, built to serve their own interests and which has now got the entire country in a predicament. They’ve become multi-millionaires and billionaires by changing agricultural land into residential land and selling it to developers, by signing lucrative contracts with the government to manage government owned hotels, by linking up with foreign tour operators and in a million other ways. They have full their belly for the last 60 years and now the bill has arrived, they want to pass it to the workers to pay. No way!
A special Covid 19 tax on those with deep pockets should provide the government with all the funds it needs. Remember if you tax a billionaire at 99% of their wealth, they would still be a multi-millionaire at the end of it. They still wouldn’t have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, how to pay their rent or water or electricity bill. That’s the way to “carry as many Barbadians as possible”.
If the govt wants to cut public servants salaries..stop with the euphesisms..and game playing..i am sorry for them if they have found themselves in the same position as the Sir Lloyd and are too ashamed to do what he did..
Furthermore, why must the unions come up with the plan?
Its unfair to the unions since they do not represent all public officers.
Let the GOB and their..advisors devise their own, plan..
I agree person like Politicians and high end workers should be willing to give a portion of there funds to the meeting cause to help Barbarians.
Don’t take from all government workers especially low income government workers who may still end up struggling even though they are working.
At lest person’s making 9000 dollars or more a month can at least put a 100 or even a 200 dollars a month which can then go to help the less fortunate.
Government can also think about having some of these same persons receiving funds if possible, put back man hours at least 2 to 3 times a week and receive the same pay or some kind of bi-weekly styping. I believe in a person helping them selves persons just need work so part time work with pay is better than no work at all and depending on a pay day.
Barbados can have these persons work with entering data to transfere information from paper to digital and since there is so much years of paper work this can be done part-time giving person a job even if it’s contract based.
Those who are good at farming have them work the grounds part time to get a styping or for the amount given.
I do agree that I no longer see the good cane I had growing up and we have so much land it should of been flooding with cane even if it’s two types of cane because I see these ones are different than what was before sugar is our counties thing we should never let it die out we can have both sugar cane and tourist both flourishing together. Do remember tourist come to our country to see our culture if you take the culture away the Caribbean feeling and give them what they get when they are home why would they keep coming back? Keep our culture or vibe like us, that’s what they want, see how tall the cane are in the photos, see the hawkers, see the men cutting cane, climbing coconut trees, roasting breadfruit, roasting fish all that old time stuff that’s what they want to see our culture or ways. So I believe we should have both blooming no just focus on one part and throw out the rest our cane looks bad sorry to say like tall grass can’t even see a joint hurts my heart to see these bony things like cane trash. A country should always push what it has working for them and ours can do just that push cane and Tourism.
And persons could of been reaping them for a pay when it’s harvest time which could of also kept workers instead of these big machines.
So in all I believe person should be able to state weather they wanna join the meeting and they should have the option to choose between 25 to 200 if they can a month to the cause.
For persons working over 9000 dollars a month they should have the option to give 50 to 200 a month to help the cause.
And persons working below 9000 a month have an option to choose between 25 to 150 dollars a month to help the cause.
I believe person’s would feel more respected and a part of the cause.
And Government can think about hireing some persons for part time data entry or sorting of files something to help give back as I said above.
Just my two cents worth of what I think national meeting turn.