Grenada Gov't hints at court action to prevent strike by public workers

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – The Grenada government says it is moving to prevent trade unions from taking strike action as the situation regarding the amount of gratuity and pension to be paid to public workers escalated yesterday.

A government statement said that the Keith Mitchell administration is moving to “protect people’s health care at the General Hospital and other facilities should top medical officials join a call for industrial action by the Grenada Public Workers Union (GPWU).

The statement said that the Ministry of Legal Affairs is preparing to file an injunction against any strike in the health care services sector, noting that “there are restrictions on industrial action in essential services such as the health sector”.

Earlier, Trade Minister Oliver Joseph said that the country could lose millions of dollars in grants from aid donors if it agrees to the demands from trade unions for a more than two per cent in gratuity and pensions to workers.

The unions, representing teachers and public workers are seeking a 25 per cent pension for workers but Joseph told a news conference that the amount breaches the Fiscal Responsibility Legislation.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act puts a cap of nine per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) overall on the amount government can assign for salaries, wages and other expenditure per year.

The chairperson of the Grenada government Pension Engagement Committee (GPEC), Beryl Isaac, has already said that the position of the trade unions “seriously breaches” the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

“Any pension plan must have two basic features – it must be sustainable and affordable. Let us be clear, the gratuity payment of EC$75,000 in the above example, has to be repaid by the retiree through monthly deductions of EC$500 for 12.5 years from his or her pension,” she said, adding “this is why when a gratuity is paid, the monthly pension of the worker is reduced.

“What the government is proposing is to pay 98 per cent of a worker’s monthly pension and two per cent as gratuity. In other words, the public officer will receive a monthly pension of EC$1960 while under the unions’ demand, that pension will be reduced to EC$1500 per month. After 12.5 years, having repaid Government the gratuity, the worker will revert to his/her full pension,” she said.

The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the government to repeal the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

“While we agree that the economic situation of the Country must be taken into account when negotiating wages and benefits for Public Officers, we do not share the view that the Fiscal Responsibility Act should be used as the basis to begin these negotiations,” said Opposition Senator, Ron Redhead.

He said the party was calling “for the repeal and replacement of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Comprehensive labour reforms, including improvements to the current attrition policy among other measures that may be counterproductive to good relations between the government of Grenada and all its public officers.

On Monday, the GPWU called on public workers to remain off the jobs for the next two days saying it would be using “the first 48 hours to remain at home to calculate their gratuity to determine why we should sacrifice and work ourselves into poverty with two per cent”.

t said it was calling on “all public workers…to remain at home on Tuesday, November 13 and Wednesday November 14….until further instructions are given by our union”.

The Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT) which said it was pleased with the response shown by teachers to its call to stay away from work last week, said the teachers were prepared to escalate its industrial action “if we have to”.

The Grenada Technical Allied Workers Union (GTAWU) said it would be engaging in “intermittent days if reflection as a result of the unreasonable proposed in the reduction in the gratuity of public workers from 25 to two per cent’.

It said it would only “resume normal industrial relations when the government of Grenada becomes serious about its commitments made pre 2018 elections as we seek to ensure a decent level of living for our retired workers, past and present”.

The government statement said that the court injunction could be filed before the end of the week amid concerns that “the health care of ordinary Grenadians could be compromised by action that is not legal under the labour statutes”.