The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

SCORES of disgruntled social services and healthcare workers demonstrated outside the House of Assembly yesterday, demanding promotions and better workplace benefits.

The public servants, including Ministry of Health dental department employees, called for hazardous pay, scarcity allowance, and the regularisation of workers, among other things.

“I have been in social services ten years and I ain’t get my letter yet,” said Jason Rolle.

“I want permanency. I is a maintenance man. I is do all sorts of things. That’s all you does do under government. You does do all kinda people work and only get one paycheck.”

Patrice Glenda Rolle Curry, a chief social worker, said staff morale is at an all-time low.

“We are losing social workers left, right and straight,” she said. “The department right now is limping. We are very short of staff. The process to confirm persons is a very lengthy process for social serviced department. We don’t know why. The process needs to be done in a more swiftly manner.”

The demonstration came a day after State Minister for Public Service Pia Glover-Rolle said significant progress had been made to address the promotion backlog and other outstanding concerns of social services workers.

BPSU president Kimsley Ferguson, who represents the workers, accused the government of taking advantage of public servants.

“We’re very, very disappointed in that every time the government gets wind of the fact that there may be industrial action, you see a written press statement being released by the minister of the public service indicating what was done. The government needs to be a little bit more proactive than that.”

 He continued: “We need to be respected and instead of us speaking to the government through the media, I believe we are a more civilised country than that and so there can be dialogue.”

 Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday, Mrs Glover-Rolle denied claims that no communication or progress was made relating to public service matters, calling such assertions “erroneous” and “disingenuous.”

 She added: “Our chief negotiator continues to extend as we have been continuously extending to all union leaders an open line of communication and, let me say, that there are multiple means available for any trade union leaders in our nation to access information from the ministry of public service.”

 “There’s no shortage of information coming out of the public service, and I think we’ve done a great job of communicating where we are in these processes.”