Duke asks Rowley for details on backpay

In a letter, dated March 7, Duke said while Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has given a commitment to pay the outstanding arrears, “no specifics were given by the prime minister” about the groups of public servants to be paid for the period January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2013.

“It is incumbent upon us, the PSA, to ensure that specific groups of workers are included in the said backpay,” Duke said in the letter. He is hoping for a response by March 15.

Speaking to reporters yesterday at a news conference outside the Eric Williams Financial Complex, Port-of-Spain, Duke identified the categories of workers to be paid. He said 50 percent of outstanding arrears are owed to some 15,000 workers in the five regional health authorities while 100 percent of arrears are owed to employees of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC), Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority and Betting Levy Board.

“All of these monies here are less than $100 million,” he said.

Duke said 100 percent of allowances are also owed to workers of the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards and Trinidad and Tobago Blind Welfare Association.

“In truth and in fact, RHA workers are not mentioned there... Public servants will exclude ADB, PTSC, RHA, Betting Levy Board, CDA and everybody else who is managed by a board,” he said.

In a statement in the Parliament on Monday, Rowley announced that some $2.5 billion will be available by month’s end to settle outstanding arrears for public servants.

Saying that Rowley’s statement was short on details, Duke said the figure was more to the tune of $500 million.

“He (Rowley) said the Minister of Finance has allocated money to pay public servants at the end of March. In the second breath, he then goes on to say that those who have been paid half already would be paid the other half, and in the third breath he said if you are not paid do not blame us, blame your accounting department.

“The statement he made in his third breath would have invalidated anything he said before. In substance, what he is saying to us, public servants and public officers, is that if you are not paid, it is not the Government fault , it is the fault of the accounting unit.”