Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has vowed to provide teachers, police officers, and nurses among other public workers an avenue to express their concerns. Skerrit who won another term in office said the new DLP administration will take a keener interest in the matters affecting public officers. He said the platform to be set up will allow public servants to have their voices heard by government for speedy redress of any worrisome issues.
“I understand they can write to a public service commission,” Skerrit said. “But the cabinet, I believe, needs to take a keener interest in the welfare of the public servants/officers and to provide them with an avenue where they can express their concerns and if they feel that they are being unfairly treated, they can be given an opportunity to be heard.”
The prime minister said he is aware that public servants are dissatisfied with many things, and that “it is not fair for us to pretend that it is not happening.” He added that the mechanism to be put in place will also allow aggrieved workers to have a sense of belonging in the new, incoming government. Skerrit also expressed concern over the fact that some people remain on a job position for as long as 15 years without hopes of promotions or salary increase.
According to him, the system that will be put in place will ensure that promotion is rapid and that workers earn in correspondence with their new positions. He said the classification system will be better than mere pay increases that will not reflect in the lives of the workers.
“The best route to go in addressing this systematically is the reclassification exercise because a 2%, 5% or even a 10% increase in anybody’s salary at this stage will not address the problem, it might be an emotional thing but in terms of addressing your core issue, it’s not gonna work,” he said.
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