And the unions emerged from the meeting if not fully satisfied, at least encouraged. They await the outcome of last week's Cabinet meeting - but remain adamant that nothing can be linked to pension reform:
Elena Smith, President, BNTU
"We had some very frank and cordial discussions, we are not at a point where we can provide definitive positions on matters we discussed however we'll be meeting again or we'll be getting from the government team next week Cabinet's position on some of the matters they had to take back to Cabinet and then we will go back to our membership with some of these positions after we've heard from them."
Courtney Menzies:
"The status of the increments in terms of, do you feel like you're making progress in these meetings?"
Elena Smith, President, BNTU
"Well we know that as has been said by I guess the minister and somebody else that has been mention on the news, that increments would be unfrozen and so we are looking now at what that will look like, when that is going to be, what will be other components of the unfreezing, those are not yet finalized."
Reporter:
"Because the prime minister has said that there must be some sort of an appraisal system although I understand that there is one in place so I don't know what will change."
Reporter:
"And that it will be linked to pension reform."
Elena Smith, President, BNTU
"No no, we are not agreeing to link anything to any pension reform. Our people have already worked for those increments, they were appraised throughout all of these years since the freeze so there's no additional thing to do in terms of just unfreezing."
Courtney Menzies:
"So moving forward though do you think they will make the appraisal process more rigorous because the prime minister is suggesting there will be something new."
Elena Smith, President, BNTU
"Well I'm not sure in terms of public service what that will look like but we know that there has been discussions as it relates to the accuracy if you will in terms of whether the appraisal that we currently have, whether that is providing accurate information scores on our performance. And so from our end, I can speak from our end, there has been talk of revising the appraisal instrument."
The PSU president acknowledged that overall progress has been made - even as they await Cabinet's deliberations:
Dean Flowers, President PSU
"Our membership gave us a mandate and you know that mandate. Have we presented that to the government? We have not moved from that position and so cabinet will now need to make a decision prior to the reading of the budget on Tuesday and get back to us before going to the house on Friday. So, that's one progress or that what we consider progress."
"In terms of the issue of pensions, it is not hinged as sister Elena rightly said on the restoration or the unfreezing or the resumption of the payment of increments. One is not tied to the other. But in terms of progress where pension reform is concerned, we are very pleased that we've been heard, that it cannot be a one size fits all or whatever that phrase is. The government has recognized that they need to look at the existing public officers in the system versus those new in the system. No plan, no decision, no scheme - nothing has been proposed. Those will be forthcoming from the government side and then we will take those to our membership for them to look and for them to modify, enhance or agreed to. So in my humble opinion there was in fact progress where those 2 matters are concerned."
"As it relates to increments, it is unlikely that there need to be any further discussion on that. We simply need to be notified of what cabinet decision is, but as it relates to the other issues, there would be many other meetings to chart the way forward in terms of how we address those issues, especially the issue of the pension reform and the contributory pension."
Reporter
"What happens though if the decision from cabinet isn't in your favor?"
Elena Smith, President, BNTU
"I think that's what I was going to say; depending on what response we get from them on Tuesday or Wednesday then we will determine whether we have to meet again to flesh out a bit more the matter of increments. I think what we want to put on record is the matter of the pension reform, because I understand that the prime minister indicated to the media that it was us who suggested April 1st, so if it is that is what he said, I haven't seen it, but if that is what was said, then that is not true. We didn't suggest any date. It was them who told us April 1st. We have said to them that we were not in agreement with April 1st, because we have to have these discussions. We cant just put something on the table without having these discussions and see what will be the implications on our members for something such as pension reform."
