<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Any attempt by\nthe government to impose changes to the public pension system on public\nofficers, I have no doubt, if we are not happy, would result in widespread\nindustrial action. That is my firm belief. And there will be no holding\nback.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President of the Public\nService Union (PSU) Elroy Boucher made the comment in response to a question\nduring a press conference at the union’s headquarters at Mc Kie’s Hill on\nTuesday. He was responding to a question on whether this country could see a\nreturn to the indutrial action climate of 2008 when, during Phase 2 of the\nPublic Service Reclassification exercise, the two largest unions – PSU and the\nSt Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Union (SVGTU) – were in a deadlock with\ngovernment over proposed salary increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question was posed\nto the union leader following last Friday’s outcome where, after a meeting\nbetween government officials and two other unions – the National Workers\nMovement (NWM) and the Commercial Technical and Allied Workers Union (CTAWU) –\nan agreement was signed for salary increases of 1 percent for half of 2018,\nretroactive to July 2018; 1.5 percent for 2019 and 2 percent in 2020. The PSU\nand the SVGTU were invited to the meeting but they did not participate after\nthey refused to comply with an order to leave their cell phones the Prime\nMinister’s security before entering the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SVGTU and the PSU,\nalong with the Police Welfare\nAssociation, were expecting to discuss pension reform and their proposed salary\nincreases of 5.5 percent for 2017 and\n4.5 percent for 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PSU and SVGTU\nannounced last week at a joint press conference that they were planning to\npicket parliament on January 29th when Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves is\nexpected to present the 2019 Budget. The unions had stated last week that only\nexecutive members would be involved in the picket and depending on what happens\nthey would decide whether to invite others to picket to extend the picket\nbeyond budget presentation day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boucher told reporters\non Tuesday that since last week Friday’s turn of events, his union and the\nSVGTU met up to the day before the press conference. He, however, did not\nannounce any clear or definite decision that might have come out of the talks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boucher told reporters that the issue of pension reform has triggered a number of activities in the Caribbean and\u00a0that it “can be a powder keg” if the government is not careful. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Any attempt by the government to impose changes to the public pension system on public officers, I have no doubt, if we are not happy, would result in widespread industrial action. That is my firm belief. And there will be no holding back.” President of the Public Service Union (PSU) Elroy Boucher made the comment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n