The Unsettled Union Settlement

The news has come that there may be a settlement of the retroactive wages due to the public sector workers.  Even though the details have not yet been revealed there are many questions that come to my mind including these that follow.

What will the cost be for this financial year budget?  How will the government finance this expenditure?  What expenditure items will have to be cut?  What new taxes will the government have to impose to fund these payments?  What effect will this have on the plan to balance the national budget by 2014?  What about the salary review for 2010 and 2011?  What about the review for 2012 and 2013?  Will the trade unions accept a wage freeze for any of these periods?  If additional increases are granted how will they be funded or will they be deferred to later budget years?  How will this settlement affect the passing of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tests?   What are the implications if we fail the IMF tests?

What about the public sector transformation programme?  Are the trade unions prepared to accept a reduction in the size of government moving forward?  Does the public sector expect us to continue paying for their inefficiencies?  Will we still have to wait in line for several hours in order to pay our taxes?  Will it still take months to get documents from the various agencies? Are we to accept the fact that seventy percent of our children can not pass one subject at CXC?  Are we to be happy that our schools are more interested in sports than in educating our children?  Will be satisfied that our schools can find millions of dollars for sports but can’t buy even one computer for a computer room?  Are we to be satisfied with the poor quality of teachers in our schools?

Are we to continue to accept the rampant corruption that exists within the police force?  Should we be happy with the number of shootings by the police?  Should we be satisfied about supporting members of the force who serve no useful function?  Will we continue to have poor gathering of evidence at crime scenes?  Will there be any improvements in the justice system?  Are we to be satisfied with the number of children that go missing?  Should we be happy about how our children’s homes are run? Are we to accept the poor service that is provided in our retirement homes? Will our hospitals and health centres be any more efficient?

It is very easy to support the idea of more pay for our public sector workers after all everyone wants to be better paid.  However for too long we have not considered exactly for what we are paying.  If better wages do not lead to improved services then what is the point of having the services in the first place.