Last week, we showed you what both John Briceno and Patrick Faber had to say about the massive wage bill that the government is now borrowing to keep up with.
Both of these mass party leaders have hinted that if they become the next Prime Minister, they will have to make the tough decision to somehow reduce public service workforce.
They didn't use the dreaded "R" word, but to the Public Service Union, that sounds like they're discussing retrenchment, and it appears that the union and its membership are balling their fist in preparation for a fight with the political directorate.
For context, we re-air the comments from both Briceno and Faber on the controversial topic:
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"We do have to go in and take a hard look and all the hard-working public officers that have been in the system all these years they are safe. They have nothing to worry about. The hangers-on that the UDP has brought in that I am told that many of them just collect a salary and do nothing - obviously we can't afford that."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"So you accept that you will be sending some people home, those who the government judges to be hangers-on or people who are only there to take a salary?"
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"Any government. I am sure that if the UDP government were to get in by any chance they would have to do some of that and bring in whoever. It's going to be tough and we need to find approximately 45 million dollars a month to be able to pay salaries and that tough decisions will have to be made once we get into government."
File: October 8th, 2020
Jules Vasquez
"What would be the way forward as regards specifically the wage bill?"
Hon. Patrick Faber - UPD Leader-Elect
"It's going to be very difficult waters ahead and the current path won't be sustainable and great change needs to happen but that change in my view can be managed. If it is we feel as is evidently the case with so many who have assessed the situation that we have too many government workers. Well, the way to do that is to try to shift some from the public sector to the private sector but that has to be planned and so our efforts to recover after COVID but even now that COVID doesn't seem to be subsiding, there has to be a recovery plan simultaneously that will see job creation and hopefully we'll see some of that transitioning from the public to the private sector if that is determined to be the need when we assess the situation. But you are right, it is a situation who all look at it says, this is not something that we can sustain and I would be disingenuous to you if I say anything like that we can continue to go down this path irresponsibly."
Well, the public officers got that message loud and clear, and reports have recently emerged that the Public Service Union is threatening that its members won't show up and man the polls for the general elections. Their membership will be the public officers who will be responsible to work with the Elections and Boundaries staff to conduct the elections on November 11th. A record 2155 Public Officers will be manning the Polling Stations across the country on Election Day as Returning Officers, Election Clerks, Presiding Officers Poll Clerks, Information Clerks and Sanitizing Clerks. Throw in the police and the elections and Boundaries staff and the total number of persons working throughout the entire process could be above 3,500 persons.
Earlier this week, the President of the Public Service Union sent out a message to all public officers to get ready to resist any attempt to send them home from their jobs. Here's an excerpt of that message:
Gerald Henry Jr - President, PSU
"Both leaders have declared that they intend to reduce the wage bill, which means that some public officers will lose their jobs. If at no other time, those of you who are not members of the union should join, it is now."
"From the comments made by the leaders of both political parties, it is clear that it is us against them. While the union agrees that the wage bill is high, and may very well be unsustainable, our position has been and remains that before any government takes away any of our jobs, they must ensure that wastage in other areas is minimized. One very clear example of this is the purchase of brand new, top-of-the-line, fully-loaded vehicles for all the members of Cabinet, all the chief executive officers, and heads of departments, not mention, some of their cronies. One brand new Toyota Land-cruiser costs over 200,000 Belize dollars. The starting salary for a second-class clerk is just under $12,000, and for a 1st clerk, it's just over $17,000. This means that at least 16 second-class clerks or a little less than 1 dozen first-class clerks are sacrificed just to buy one of these high-end vehicles."
"Another major expense to government is the many contract officers employed, most of whom do little or nothing, and some who are in the offices to facilitate personal attacks against the true public offices by some heads of department. We have competent, experienced, and qualified public officers, sometimes more than the heads of department, who can perform the functions of these public officers but we are not given an opportunity to do so because of the corrupt system that currently exists in the public service."
The PSU leadership has repeatedly requested that the government provide them with a complete list of all the persons being paid from the public purse.
