So, with all that frustration, the next meeting between the Government's Negotiating Team and the Joint Unions will certainly be contentious.
It takes place next Friday, and we asked the President if these concerns will form part of those talks over the 10% salary pay cut.
Here's his comment:
Dean Flowers - President, Public Service Union
"Some public officers believe that they have no reason to be afraid anymore. And so, it will be interesting to see what would be the end result of that meeting on the 16th, because, guided by the sentiments that are being expressed across this country, 2022 may very well be a year of reckoning for the political parties that have raped and pillaged over resources, and who have enriched themselves, their families and their political cronies. It could very well be a year of reckoning and, we all just need to be alert, prepared, and ready for anything. So we will know what happens next."
Daniel Ortiz
"What is the threshold at which the JUNT tells the government: look, you cannot justify this salary cut and increment freeze any further, because we've met these benchmarks economically?"
Dean Flowers
"When you are dealing with a government, and government - red or blue - who do not have a fiscal strategy statement or, a strategic direction in which they want to grow the economy, it's difficult for us to have a fresh in terms of - Or a benchmark, in terms of where we want to be, or where we really want to go. What is the sense of budgeting? Each and every year, you pass a revenue appropriation bill, every March or April of each year. And then you come back, and you ask for more, and you ask for more, and you ask for more. But, you fail to identify where the revenues will come to offset the request for additional expenditures. Governments, on the whole, PUDP, can be classified as drunken sailors, spending like drunken sailors, the people's money. They don't have any plans. And so if it is that we will be spending irresponsibly, what we're saying is that you won't be spending irresponsibly at our expense and our detriment."
