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Grenada Government Says It Is Committed To Finding Solution To Pension Negotiations With Public Sector

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, January 6, 2019 (CMC) – The Grenada government says it intends to find a “speedy and lasting resolution to the pension negotiations” with public servants, who, last year, staged several work stoppages to highlight their causes.

The parties have been at loggerheads, even after the government offered an eight percent gratuity, over an eight-year period. Previously it had offered two percent over 12.5 years. But the unions and staff associations, representing the public servants, are demanding a 25 percent hike.

Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell, in his traditional New Year’s message, said his administration “stands resolutely committed to affording public service retirees a better quality of life”.

But he insisted “we must balance that commitment with the responsibility to protect the interests of the wider population, by ensuring that decisions made do not negatively impact the prospects for future development of this beautiful land”.

The government has maintained that affordability and sustainability are two critical factors for any pension plan, and Mitchell reiterated that the government must be fiscally prudent in all its decisions.

“If we are not, we will put at risk the very security of employment and pension payments, of the same public officers we set out to help,” he said.

Late last month, the chairman of the Government’s Pension Engagement Committee (PEC), Oliver Joseph, said he remained hopeful that there can be an amicable settlement to the ongoing pension negotiations.

Joseph, who is also the Economic Development, Planning, Trade and Labour Minister, said the government has honoured its commitment to restore pension, paying more than seven million EC dollars to 56 workers last year.

Joseph added that there must now be a genuine commitment to pension reform by both parties.

“You can’t reform and want to hold on to the 1958 formula. We are hopeful that the discussions around the table will bring the matter to an amicable resolution, that will see the interest of workers and that of the country being protected,” he said.

Mitchell told Grenadians that since 2013, his administration has made significant improvements in pay and benefits for public officers and appealed to the trade unions to work with the government “to achieve a realistic, fair, affordable and sustainable resolution to this pension issue”.

He lamented the breakdown in the pension negotiations, which led to industrial action by teachers and other public officers. Mitchell said stability in the industrial relations climate is critical to the country’s continued growth and development, which will invariably benefit all citizens.

There has been no response, to date, to Mitchell’s latest appeal from the trade unions.


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