We turn now to what appears to be a simmering dispute between the Government and the Public Service Union. PSU President Dean Flowers has written to Prime Minister John Briceno to voice the union's strong opposition to a proposal to increase the salaries of Legal Service Officers.
The union has received a New Pay Scale Proposal by the Attorney General's Ministry. According to the PSU's information, this proposal seeks to increase salaries for those workers which Flowers refers to as "an unconscionable submission".
Now, as viewers are aware, teachers and public officers have had to live with a 10% pay cut and increment freeze for about 8 months now.
President Flowers says, quote, "The legal fraternity of the public service already enjoys an unfair advantage in remuneration from other Technical Officers in other professional fields. Any request for the widening of this compensation gap... should therefore be rejected in its entirety... It is no secret that many public officers continue to struggle and are finding it difficult to adapt and adjust to the salary cuts and increment freeze imposed.." End quote.
President Flowers says the union will attempt to resist the implementation of this new pay scale, quote, "at all costs".
Today, he told us via zoom that the union feels insulted by this proposal:
Dean Flowers - President, Public Service Union
"Where the officers of the legal service are concerned - and they, of course, fall under the Solicitor General and the Attorney General's Ministry - I want to state that we have respect for those officers because they are public officers like ourselves. But I want us to speak without any apology. They are no [more] special other technical experts in different fields that we have within the public service: absolutely no different, and absolutely no more special than any other expert in the public service. And so, we felt compelled to state to the Prime minister that we will not tolerate that anomaly or that father anomaly to be expounded upon because legal services officers - as it is - enjoys better compensation, much to the detriment of other public officers, and other expert officers and technical officers in the public service. There is absolutely nothing special about a legal services officer when you look at that officer alongside an engineer in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development or in the Solid Waste Management Authority, or technical experts in the Department of the Environment, or an auditor with the requisite qualification within the Auditor General's [Office], or a tax specialist within the Tax Services Department who are being paid a bare, minimum in accordance with the public service public scale. And so, we reject in its entirety, that submission from the Solicitor General and the Attorney General. I want to say publicly, as we stated in that letter, at all costs, we will reject that. If they want to give a 17% increase on salaries to the Solicitor General and her staff, then best come with a 17% increase on some of these for every single public officer."
Later on in our conversation, the PSU President shifted his focus on the union's collective frustration that they don't see the government adhering to the austerity and reduction in public spending.
Here's how Flowers questioned the government's use of public funds, which has recently come to national attention:
Dean Flowers - President, Public Service Union
"I must apologize for being a bit emotional, but I find is Solicitor General and the Attorney General's submission to be insulting and disrespectful to our front liners and public officers across the sector, including our cleaners who we need now more than ever. Shame in the solicitor general, shame on the Attorney General, and a damn shame on those individuals within the Ministry of Finance who are also supporting this submission, from the information that we've received. It's damn shame I want to dare them to implement that 17% increase on legal services officers. And this is not a threat. This is saying to them, shame on you. It is now shameful that you've gone to the House to pass supplementals in approximately $200 million, After having taken $80 million in salary from public offices, it is not bad enough that when you look at the wage bill, you will see that from November."
"2020 to December 2021, you will see that salaries, the hiring, the new hires from November 2020 to December 2021 are among the $29 million. This administration bullied their way on public officers. This administration inflicted pain and suffering on public offices, all in the name of a debt restructuring to give them fiscal space, to continue exploiting the Belize people and the finances of the Belizean people."
We sought comment from Attorney General Magali Marin-Young in response to the PSU President's comments, and she told us, quote, "I find his comments unfortunate and uninformed." End Quote.
She explained that a situation unfolded during the Barrow Government Administration where the Crown Counsels of the Attorney General's Ministry did not receive a 7% salary increase, which was granted to all other public officers between 2014 and 2017.
The AG also added that basically, this Administration was correcting that matter, where they didn't get what they were due as public servants.
Marin told us, quote, "The proposed salary scale is simply seeking to rectify that issue for Crowns."
But, she disputes the number which the PSU President asserted. You'll remember that Flowers said that the proposal is for 17%. Well, the AG insists that the increase is only for 7%.
We checked back with the PSU President on that number and he insists that the proposal is for 17%. But, he did concede that there is a possibility in which the net increase would be only 7%. That's if the 10% cut for all public officers will interact with the proposed increase that has been tabled. He added that at the higher end of the proposed pay scale ranges, the legal officers could end up getting an even higher wage increase than 7 or 17%.
