Suffer Public Servants

After the Black Power uprising in 1970, the PNM started elevating all Protective Services because they felt that these people were the ones to protect them (the Gov’t) whenever they got into conflict with the masses.

Over the years salaries of Police, Fire, Prisons, Defence Force have appreciated greatly, while Public Service Clerk 1 has remained stagnant to this day.

One has to have a minimum of five GCE or CXC General Proficiency passes and pass the Public Service Entrance Exam for Clerk 1 and wait for years, to get a permanent appointment, while police, firemen, prison officers, etc only require three CXC general proficiency or basic passes to get in, very often, they don’t need anything except some relative in the respective service, the majority cannot even pass the entrance exam. After the last three-year agreement for Public Servants, (2002-2004) the President of the PSA union beat her chest and boasted that she secured a great “deal” for Public Servants 15 percent over the period, subsequently the Police, Fire, Prisons, were awarded 30 percent, the Defence Force 42 percent.

Public Servants are gluttons for punishment, since I have not heard any protest from them, and they continue to elect the same group of “losers” to run their affairs, to add insult to injury, when they accept the paltry percentage increase, they settle for the lowest cut in the first and second year, and so when they actually receive the greatest cut in the third year, the value of the increase has already been eroded.

JOSEPH SANKAR

Port-of-Spain