60 million - that's how much the government hopes to trim off the wage bill in the next fiscal year. That's amounts to a proposed 10% pay cut for public officers in the coming fiscal year. That's what was raised at the budget consultations held yesterday at the House of Culture in Belize City between the government and the unions.
Yesterday we spoke to the financial secretary who accompanied the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and the Minister of Education. He said he couldn't discuss specifics.
But those are contained in a letter sent to the unions today which asks the unions to commit to a three year wage cuts, with a three year freeze in increments. If economic conditions improve before then, government would be prepared the re-negotiate those cuts.
So, we spoke to the First Vice President of the PSU, Dean Flowers today. He said the unions are going into membership meetings and will submit a counter proposal next week:
Dean Flowers, First Vice President, PSU
"The government was clear on the current economic situation that the country is in and they were able to share with us and explain to us more in depth their plans to bridge the deficit and thereafter how best we could address the debt, the 134 GDP debt that the country is currently under. So following that meeting we requested of the government for them to provide for us in writing what exactly it is that they want so that we can get down to the meat or to the essence of the discussion and this morning there was a letter sent by the financial secretary which highlights the specifics of what the government is proposing to the public officers and more importantly to the joint unions. And so we're all in receipt of that letter, albeit after the media, but nonetheless we are in receipt of that letter and we are going through its content and we will convene a council of management meeting tomorrow, we will then coordinate membership meetings and having heard back from membership we will be able to provide the government with a detailed and comprehensive response, whether that be in the form of a counterproposal or an alternate proposal or a complete reject of what they're putting forward or a complete agreement of what they're putting forward. I don't know what will come from membership."
"I think it's important that I state that the Public Service Union or none of the joint unions have put forward any proposal that has to do with salary cuts. What we have put forward vehemently or strongly is the need for us to address revenue enhancement and for us to put in place structure and monetary mechanisms to ensure that the government performs more responsibly and where compliance and the sharing of the tax burden is concerned, those are the positions that we have put forward forcefully. We are only in receipt of this proposal by the government for there to be a cut in wages and for that cut to be held for three years. I can say to you that using the budget estimates numbers that cut is reflecting around 10%."
So between the pay cut and the increment freeze, government is hoping to save a total of 80 million dollars. The union says however that they think those savings can come from other sources:
Dean Flowers, First Vice President, PSU
"I want to state that as you already know, we're already engaged in an increment freeze and so in essence, proposal #2 would effectively be putting us in poor increment freezes, that would yield $20,000,000 and also I must make mention that government's targeted numbers and where public officers and the wage bill is concerned, the targeted number is $80,000,000 and so from an increment stand point they're projecting a savings of around $20,000,000 so the proposal where salaries are concerned of course will be tied to the remaining $60,000,000. But we have to carefully look a whether or not that $60,000,000 can and should only come from wages or if it can come from another source, whether it be some other cut, some other areas, or as I have been saying repeatedly, perhaps an increase or identifying a possible increase in revenue where there's leakages because at this point in time it would make absolutely no sense to have a discussion surrounding any new topics as a result of the pandemic."
Reporter
"By when would you expect to have a, that the unions could have an agreed upon position to present back to the government."
Dean Flowers, First Vice President, PSU
"The government has asked if we can do our best to have a counter proposal by the 14th of March, I think the letter said the 15th, but I think that's for discussion because of the manner that we need to go about consulting with our wider membership across the country, we agreed that jointly, we will be submitting a counterproposal as I suggested or as I said I don't know what will be the position but we will be submitting our own proposal in relation to this targeted $80,000,000 to the government by the 14th of March following the mandate that is given to us by our members."
Government intends to table the new budget including those cuts by March 26th. We'll see what this weekend's internal consultations produce.
