Last night, we showed you how the standoff between the unions and the government continues to intensify. The joint unions are keeping up the public pressure on the Briceno Administration against the pay cut for teachers and public officers, and for the implementation of good governance measures.
Tonight, one of the union leaders finds herself on the receiving end of that same type of pressure. She's being called out by critics to defend herself as to why approximately $40,000 in public funds is being spent on a staff retreat at a posh Placencia resort, at a time when government spending is cut to the bone.
Chief Magistrate Sharon Frazer is the head of the Magistracy and is responsible for the department's use of financial resources. So, what's the justification for a department-wide retreat to Naia Resort next weekend?
The retreat is for continuous professional development for the Magistrates and their support staff. But, it was thrown into the public domain as some supposed scandal about misuse of public funds. This morning, the Chief Magistrate granted 7News an interview via Zoom to explain that the payment for this trip happened back 2 years ago, in 2019, and that the trip - which should have happened that year - had to be continuously postponed:
Sharon Frazer - Chief Magistrate
"The Magistracy's vote, I am warrant-holder of the vote for the Magistracy. I want to say that I've maintained fiscal responsibility when it comes to dealing with spending the monies that come under the vote, which I am the warrant-holder. One of the items under our vote makes provisions for training of staff. That is magistrates and support staff. We've had training in the past. We try to at least put in one training a year. The retreat that you're talking about [is] one of those such training. We have been saving money within our vote and our subsistence to make this retreat work because, as you know, the votes have been cut year after year. But, in order to make it work, and also to have done something for the staff who have been working tirelessly."
"From the budget of 2018/2019, which would have ended March 2019, we paid for this retreat. That is after we would have scraped, we would have saved there. We would have saved here, to make it work."
"As I said, before March 2019, this retreat was paid for. It was supposed to happen on the 24th of May weekend, 2019. Because of COVID, because we were at a point where there was a nucleus in San Pedro, then there was Orange Walk. If it is that we had done anything, it would mean we would have had to exclude staff members, and that would not have been the purpose for it. So, what we're doing, we kept pushing it down the road. As you know, 2020, was a really rough year. We had all of those COVID regulations. The numbers were climbing. We could not do it. In the meantime, we kept contact with the resort to say, listen to me. We can't do it; in addition to that, they couldn't host large numbers of people anyway, based on the regulations. When it is they got the go-ahead that they could at least host 75% capacity, we were contacted. The officer who is in contact with Naia would have then started to make the arrangements."
"The whole cost of the retreat at the resort had already been paid for from 2019. We're in 2021. So, no money would have been coming out of this year's vote, because frankly speaking, we don't have it."
"The mischief-making that is taking place would leave one with the impression that in these austerity times, I am taking or authorizing- nothing. It's nothing like that."
As you heard, Chief Magistrate Frazer asserts that the main source of the complaints against this department retreat is a staffer from within the Magistracy. You'll remember the sickout which certain members of the department staged on Monday. They say that they were expressing, their "displeasure and total loss of confidence" in Frazer as a leader. She told us that the sick out was an attempt to discredit her leadership by a disgruntled employee and her allies.
Frazer insisted to us this morning that this employee is up to mischief once again and that politically connected persons are attempting to use this complaint to negatively influence the public's view of her leadership. She's also the president of the APSSM which is fighting with government over the wage cut. Here's how she explained why she thinks this a textbook case of union-busting:
Sharon Frazer - Chief Magistrate
"Real mischief-making is going on, and I have no doubt that what is happening to me, and by extension, the Magistracy, has to do with my union activities, as the President of APSSM. And I don't see why it is that the Magistracy should be affected by all of this. I am not doing anything illegal. I am not being disrespectful to anyone, and that is why I find this most disturbing, and it's disturbing because it's coming from within my department."
"That same disgruntled officer is now on a campaign to embarrass me, to embarrass the department. It is amazing to me that the political pundits out there are actually utilizing my staff with an effort to try to embarrass me, to try to discredit me, when I will tell you I've had no physical hand in this planning, more than to say we need to do training for our staff."
"I'm hoping that the right-thinking people who would have an opportunity to listen to this presentation, would see it for whatever it is. I guess it is about getting me to just stop, to quit. I represent HODs and Senior Managers in this country. I have given 33 years of my life when it is I have nothing to lose. Nobody could question my integrity."
"A disgruntled staff member that in fact, they are using this opportunity, using her. She doesn't realize how they are using her, and the day will come when, in fact, they don't need her anymore, and she will be thrown under the bus. I don't know if she will ever get to serve 33 years in the public service. And I don't understand if it is she is not happy with me, why it is she doesn't just apply to move, rather than try to continue to discredit me and have people use her."
"It is a classic case of union-busting."
The initial reports we received suggested that the total expense for this staff retreat is $48,000. The Chief Magistrate refuted that, saying that the figure is being exaggerated, and the total sum is closer to $40,000.
