Luncheon says 5% is it for public servants

The Government is not budging from its position that it could only afford a 5% increase for public servants this year.

The administration’s chief spokesman Dr. Roger Luncheon on Wednesday said the government was moving ahead with the 5% increase even as the union and the workers continue to press for a higher percentage.

The Cabinet Secretary said “as we come down to the end of the year, recognizing that we have consummately failed in arriving at a consensus then the issue for us in the administration has always been how to respond to the 30,000 breadwinners and heads of households in December, the administration reaches out to respond to its employees.”

Luncheon said with the union and the government failing to reach a consensus there was little choice other than for the government to move forward with the 5% it was offering. He said the failure to meet a consensus is not something new.

“It is not uncommon in the world of industrial relations to have failures at consensus. We ain’t the first one and we ain’t gone be the last to have failures.” “I don’t believe that our response is a reckless one. My feeling is that it is indeed responsive. It is an accommodation that has been made in the context of a caring government responding acutely in December to its 30 plus thousand employees. I would like to be advised about a better option presented with this situation in December”, Luncheon said.

Public servants are expected to see the increase as early as next week. Nurses and other public servants have been protesting the 5% increase, arguing that they deserve much more. They intend to step up their picketing and protest action moving into the new year. The Opposition parties have said the government could afford more and they intend to lend their support to the protesting public servants.