But it's hard to keep things cordial and respectful when every night, the ruling party takes the war to the local news and major Facebook platforms with ads attacking the unions' leading personalities. The NTUCB has condemned GOB and called for an end to the ad campaign. And while the DPM isn't directly behind the ads, we asked him how he felt that his side is going on the offensive against labour unions.
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister:
"Courtney Menzies: what do you make of what can be characterized as union busting by the party? Those ad attacks against the union members."
"I said to the folks that a lot has been said on both sides but we don't support that kind of stuff, we really don't support that kinda stuff. Our engagements are not about that kind of engagement, we are about getting results, about talking constructively, about respecting each other, about being serious about the issues because the issues that are happening are real and we don't get into personality stuff, we really can't because this country is too small, the demands are too great, our time is limited, we're not going to be here forever so we have to maximize and get as much done and work as hard as we can for as long as we can and I think when you get into personality stuff, it takes away from the work that you have to do. So we really don't support that we made that perfectly clear to those members from the other side from the joint unions."
Courtney Menzies:
"But while you're around the table doing the heavy lifting, doing the work on behalf of GOB, there's not only these ad attacks but there's your colleagues saying, well we'll have to raise taxes if the teachers get their increase. This has to make the work that you do much more difficult."
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister:
"Well, that's our job to try and get things done and try to reach and agreement and we can't shy away from that. As I said, I wish we had reached this point some time ago but we didn't and now we're here and I think we're as close as we can get."
Reporter:
"Is the government now pushing beyond the margins of what it can afford?"
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister:
"This is it. We're hopeful that the membership will see that we've acted in good faith. They'll see that we delivered on their demands, on their requests and will see that we are doing our best but we didn't get here overnight it took us a while for us to reach this point to say okay this is what we are going to be able to do and this is the timeline that we've spelt out to them very clearly, the timeline in terms of how we are going to get those stuff done over the 2 years."
