From left: Executive director of the BEC, Anthony Walcott; President, Marguerite Estwick; and BL&P Director Customer Solutions, Kim Griffith at the BEC’s press conference, on Monday.
‘Timing is important’
It’s a matter of timing.
Admitting that “nine years without a wage increase is a considerable period of time”, Barbados Employers Confederation’s (BEC) Executive Director, Anthony Walcott, is not sure however that now is the time for the representative unions to be demanding a pay hike for civil servants.
He said that this was especially in light of government’s current financial position, as one must consider if it can, not only afford to raise salaries and wages, but if it can, by as much as what some unions were demanding.
Currently, a 23 per cent pay raise is being demanded by the National Union of Public Workers, while the Barbados Workers’ Union has requested a 15 per cent increase.
Speaking to the media on Monday at the BEC’s Braemar Court, Brittons Hill offices, Walcott stated, “while there is justification to examine the possibility of a wage increase; when one considers talking about a wage increase one of the key factors that comes into play is the ability to pay – and my question would be, based on the government’s current finances is there an ability to pay at the level being asked by the unions? I don’t know, but those are key considerations that have to be taken.”
Speaking ahead of yesterday’s Central Bank Governor’s press conference, Walcott expressed his hopes that programmes would resort to rein in government’s expenditure and to improve the debt to GDP ratio. (JMB)