The Alliance for Change (AFC) has said that its proposed budget cuts, which were blocked in the National Assembly on Wednesday, were meant to weed out the “fat cats” in government and not bring distress to the lives of ordinary workers.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the AFC accused the government of spreading propaganda and misrepresenting the issue to the many workers of government agencies who protested, who protested.
Government employees, including staff of the Parliament Office itself, protested and Minister of Labour Dr. Nanda Gopaul, during Wednesday’s parliamentary sitting, called it an attack on workers.
Ramjattan, however, defended his proposals to cut, by almost half in some instances, allocations for the Ministry of Housing and Water, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and he condemned government for misleading the public. The cuts included allocations for contracted workers in the three ministries.
“I had wanted the names of the contracted employees but they wouldn’t give me,” said Ramjattan at the press conference, held at the Sidewalk Cafe. He noted that the “propaganda machines” of the state-run National Communications Network (NCN) and the Government Information Agency (GINA) kicked into gear and put a spin on the true intentions of the proposed cuts to the various allocations.
“We are not seeking any cuts in the ordinary workers of the country… [only] the jobs for ‘the boys,’” said Ramjattan. He said that the AFC would have no problem in approving any allocation so longs as the explanations are suitable. And, he said that the party would bring contempt proceedings against government MPs, leading to their disbarment from Parliament, should they be found to have to have provided information that is false.
Ramjattan said that had the party received the information requested of government in a letter on April 12, it would have been able to be more clinical in the cuts to be made.
Attack on unions
MP Moses Nagamootoo added that government’s continued practice of favouring the route of contracted employees over the traditional public service is an attack on trade unionism. He said that the professional bodies, like the Public Service Commission, must take care of the employment of those in the public service. He said that it is the poor that should have more priority in the budget and the cuts in those with super salaries will allow the low income earners to have their day in the sun.
Nagamootoo added that the AFC will vote against any allocations for GINA, even if it means shutting the agency down.
The AFC called for a reduction of the personal income tax to 30 percent in the first instance and ending at 25 percent eventually. The party also called for the suspension of the planned removal of electricity tariff subsidies in the community of Linden.
It called for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, suggesting that with this body up and functioning, it would be able to save billions, which could be used to fund some of the changes that the AFC would like to see.
Workers’ rights
But Minister Gopaul had a different take on the actions of the AFC and said it was an attack on the rights of workers. He noted that it was his duty and responsibility to ensure a level playing field for both workers and employers alike. “I’m also of the firm view that I should protect workers’ rights and ensure that our employment laws are observed by all and that the rights afforded to workers under these laws are scrupulously observed,” he said.
According to Gopaul, if the AFC’s motion for the cuts were to go through, the government would in effect be forced to bring to an immediate end hundreds of public sector jobs within government departments and agencies. “Such an action will result in a flagrant violation of the affected employees terms and condition of employment and would be a breach of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act,” he pointed out.
“Mr. Speaker, this must be a matter of concern to all of us in this House since what some legislators are proposing can have far reaching employment consequences and affect the livelihood of hundreds of young and qualified professionals. What we are witnessing today, Mr. Speaker, is the first time in the living history of this Parliament and perhaps in parliaments around the world, where opposition legislators are proposing the immediate dismissal of workers for reasons other than economic or that of affordability,” he said.
The Parliament, Gopaul declared, cannot “willy-nilly and by the stroke of the pen or the scissors send home in an arbitrary manner, hundreds of workers.”
“I appeal to this Honourable House to respect the rights of the workers to be employed and their rights should be protected,” he said. “Never in my contemplation gracing the halls of this Honourable House would I have expected to witness such a crass approach towards the perusal of our estimates, particularly under the heads which cater for employment. I will therefore urge the APNU to support the government on this issue,” Gopaul added.
