Unions may call strike over reclassification delay

A crisis is looming large in the public service and a shut down could come as early as September unless a compromise is reached by the stakeholders in the reclassification process.

Three trade unions say August 31st is the final day of grace for the three-year-late process, but newly appointed Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of the Public Service is pleading for more time.{{more}}

Additionally, Acting Prime Minister Sir Louis Straker is convinced that a crisis will be averted once the stakeholders see government’s commitment to the process of reclassification.

At a press conference last Monday, the executive of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers’ Union (SVGTU) reiterated their frustration with the pace of the process and laid the blame for the delay mostly in the lap of the former PS in the Ministry of the Public Service Shirla Francis.

“The Union notes the arrogance, indifference and contempt of the former Permanent Secretary… in frustrating not only the SVGTU but the entire Reclassification Exercise,” teachers’ union president Otto Sam told journalists.

He said that at a meeting with Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and other top government officials on June 15, it was agreed that measures needed to be put in place to expedite the process.

“The union used the meeting to call on the Prime Minister to ensure that his technocrats deliver on reclassification and change their attitude towards the teachers,” Sam said.

The union’s Industrial Relations Officer, Denniston Douglas made the union’s position clear. He said that at the end of August, they will be meeting with teachers and if there wasn’t anything positive to report, “we will take some sort of action.”

Douglas noted that police officers, nurses and members of the Public Service Union (PSU) are also very unhappy and share the teachers’ union’s sentiments.

This was confirmed by the President of the Nurses’ Association, Beverly Liverpool, who told SEARCHLIGHT that the Reclassification process has become a drawn out process and the nurses believe it is time to take a serious stance.

“We are on the same wavelength with the teachers, the nurses have the same feelings,” Liverpool said.

Aubrey Burgin, President of the PSU confirmed to SEARCHLIGHT that the PSU is also singing from the same song sheet.

“The ministry is pussyfooting on this issue,” said Burgin, adding, “We have been through a wage freeze, and the conditions that we work under are really terrible, and now this is being held up.”

Burgin told SEARCHLIGHT that it was unacceptable that a process that should have been completed in 2004 is still incomplete.

“There is a definite risk of industrial action on our part,” Burgin declared.

But PS Nathaniel Williams told SEARCHLIGHT that the August 31st deadline being suggested by the trade unions is unrealistic.

“I want to be very straightforward and transparent on the matter, there is no way the process will be finished by August 31st, that is almost impossible,” Williams said.

He said that he plans to sit down next week with the unions and interest groups to look again at their concerns.

Williams said that he is trying to win the confidence of all involved and while he expected disagreements, he is approaching his task in a unified way along with the stakeholders.

He also admitted that there was contributory negligence all around, which had pushed the process back three years, but said, he believes that PS Shirla Francis did her best and had good intentions, contrary to the unions’ perceptions.

Permanent Secretary Francis could not be reached for comment.