And that's the message going out to the public in general, but specifically, public officers and teachers tonight.
And those unions are getting their own response ready - in word and deed.
Today the PSU has been asking its membership to vote virtually on whether the teachers and the public officers will respond with a notice of a Trade Dispute between them and the government over the salary cuts.
This evening, we received this internal document from the Public Service Union. The document goes on to lay out the possible courses of action that the union can take.
If the mandate for Industrial Actions is received, the union then goes on to declare the trade dispute between the PSU and government over, quote, "unilateral salary cuts" end quote.
It advises that for those working in Essential Services, 21 days' notice is required for any industrial action.
In the interim, the PSU is considering other acts of protests, such as "Yellow Fridays", which will continue; Go Slow for all public servants; mandatory 15-minute breaks in the morning and afternoon; mandatory 1-hour lunch breaks; a work to rule, cutting all forms of over-time; picketing and picketing lines in front of the offices; and mass sick-outs.
When we contacted a representative of the PSU for comment, we were told that the union is currently seeking its mandate from its membership via a poll. That poll is expected to conclude later tonight. The results of the two rounds taken so far have been overwhelmingly in favour of proceeding with industrial action.
The teachers union has not taken any vote yet as it is currently dealing with a two day convention to elect officers for a new executive. So there is no indication tonight from that important union.
