Opposition Leader, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, has accused the ruling New Democratic Party (NDP) government of ‘deception’ over its promise to pay public sector workers a ‘bonus salary’.
The former prime minister’s comments came amidst public debate over what the NDP said during the campaign for the November 27 general election and what it suggested, after it won the elections ending Gonsalves’s attempt of his Unity Labour Party (ULP) being elected for a sixth consecutive term in office.
NDP leader and now Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday first made the promises at an NDP press conference in October, presenting a pledge card with his photo on one side and the four pledges that the NDP intends to keep within 60 days of taking office.
‘These are things that are real and practical. So, we are pledging to immediately make people’s lives better within 60 days of being elected,’ he said, outlining what an NDP government would do, including providing ‘salary bonuses to all public servants.to help to deal with the cost-of-living crisis’.
The promises were repeated throughout the campaign and two weeks before the general election, the NDP held a press conference at which it signed a memorandum of agreement with the Public Service Union (PSU).
‘It is a document that puts the welfare and dignity of workers front and centre in our national development,’ said PSU President, Elroy Boucher, who signed on behalf of the union.
While he did not refer to the four promises he had made in October, Friday instead focused on how an NDP government intends to interact with the public service.
But Gonsalves told a weekend news conference that the NDP’s ‘bonus salary’ promise was a ‘big deception’.
Gonsalves said he had been advised ‘that a member of the government was on a radio station saying that the NDP never promised a double salary in December; they promised a bonus.
‘Well, that’s not what was said. You said explicitly on the platform a double salary for December, and you also said in your little card a bonus salary. If it was a bonus, you will say a bonus,’ Gonsalves said, adding that by saying a ‘bonus salary’, ‘bonus’ is the adjective and ‘salary’ is the noun.
‘That’s plain, simple English language which any grade 5, grade 6 student knows, and the teachers should be teaching that: what is the adjective and what is the noun? The NDP promised the bonus salary – analyse and parse. Now they are saying, No, it’s a bonus.’
Gonsalves recalled his announcement during the Independence Day celebrations on October 27 of a Christmas COLA for public servants, ‘they scoffed at it.
‘They said, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no; we are giving a salary. Because the Christmas COLA paid in your November salary was for three months, at three per cent for three months,’ he said, adding that while this amounted to nine per cent, people were using 10 per cent for ease of calculation.
‘Is the average bonus, which they were now going to pay, more than the Christmas COLA? So, if you are so deceptive to people, how are you going to regain trust? So, you’re breaking the trust so early in the day?’ said Gonslaves.
The discussion about a double salary for public sector workers, payable by Christmas, has become a topic of debate on social media and on radio programmes.
Junior minister of Education and NDP public relations officer, attempted to manage public sector workers’ expectations, saying the NDP had promised to ‘give a bonus payment to all public servants.
‘I understand that there seems to be a little bit of a misunderstanding, and I understand why, as well, if I’m being transparent, that the persons who are talking about a double bubble, the truth is the language and words from the party president has always been, and there will be no clip found of Dr. Friday saying a double payment.’
King said Friday had ‘always maintained that it would be a bonus payment on your salary.
‘And I want the public to know that we have promised this in 60 days, not in the first month, be it in December. We said in 60 days, and 60 days hasn’t happened just yet.’