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Blog Archive
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2013
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April
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- Will Trinidad and Tobago lead the Caribbean?
- The similarities between the IMF and a Bailiff
- THE BOSTON BOMBING … Why people love America
- St Joseph’s Convent: Extreme School
- Pitfalls of the commuter experience
- Know the Labour Act #5 will deal with Contracts of...
- Grumbling over scholarships
- A Bloody Mess, Worthy of Note
- POLICE NEWS
- PM: “MORE REVENUE NEEDED”
- Coco Palm in top 10
- Smaller Budget for 2013/2014
- St.Lucia launches sports tourism initiatives in UK
- LIME launches Blackberry Z10
- Fond d’Or Jazz fills up on H20!
- Digicel Tips its hat to “Ladies in Hats”
- Theatre of the Mind Wins Poetry Award
- Outfitted for Future Collaboration
- No longer ashamed-you are innocent
- Jamaica now at the forefront of prostate cancer re...
- Women: Is it Our Fault that We’re Sensitive?
- St. Lucia Government Congratulates Senior Windward...
- Rain - Affected Women’s T20 Bowls Off This Weekend
- HOT NORCECA VOLLEYBALL
- Final 16 Teams for Inaugural FA Cup
- Devon Smith eyeing 800 runs in Regional 4 Day
- Basketball Action This Evening at Two Venues
- Our Politicians
- New Stars on the Horizon
- Gros Islet Young Stars Talent Search
- EEICTP Launches the ‘Inside Village Website’ Compe...
- THE REVENGE OF KENNY ANTHONY
- UWP Leadership Struggle
- THRONE SPEECH CALLS FOR VISION
- Saint Lucia’s Foreign Policy to be Strengthened
- Nation Building
- Competition to Name New Hospital Re-Launched
- Has St. Lucia’s loss become Grenada’s gain?
- Tea Time Jazz Continues To Get LUCELEC Support
- Piton Soca Starz 2013 Is Here!
- Digicel Kickstart Chose Their Lucky 30
- Digicel Supports The National Speaking Competition
- Bexon Nurses team up with Super J IGA Cul De Sac o...
- UI Cricket: Knock Out Stage
- Swimming: Time to Double The Numbers In The South
- St. Lucia versus Grenada today in Windward Islands...
- Levern Spencer continues her winning streak with a...
- Has The Date For The Commonwealth Youth Games Move...
- Commercial Volleyball Preliminary Round Concludes
- Statement from the HUMANISTIC SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATI...
- Leader of the opposition writes Prime Minister req...
- How Social Media has Impacted the culture of small...
- How 1-2-3 and ABC can spell A Better Country!
- A Fitting Farewell
- Rebranding the Square
- Police News
- Opposition Leader Denounces 2013/2014 Budget
- Greater accountability during and after budget debate
- $1.3 BILLION BUDGET
- TOURISM – A Ticking Time Bomb
- The biased support continually given to East India...
- NSDC Grads to Begin International Certification Co...
- MARKET WATCH
- Employee Development- Luxury or Necessity?
- Congratulations to M&C Drugstore GarnierFructis Pr...
- Certain skills can be a natural fit for MLM Industry!
- Cartridge World St. Lucia Celebrates Earth Day 2013
- Administrative Professionals Day
- A Call for Harmonized Trademark Registration withi...
- WOMEN T20 BOWLS OFF TODAY
- United Insurance School Cricket
- SLBF Weekend Games At Four Venues
- Regional Super 50 Final On Sunday
- LIME Supports International Volleyball in St.Lucia
- Choiseul Village Youth Recognized
- Your right to get your gift back
- What can’t be seen and isn’t known
- What a Wick: the last 7 days in 12 (13th to 19th A...
- United and Strong Stages Regional Documentation Tr...
- The Port Delivers for Jazz
- Responding to Children with Disabilities
- Passing of a Conservation Champion
- The InTime Education National Awareness Programme
- Kiwanis one-day project
- Is there a difference between an affidavit and a w...
- He made the world a better place
- Fit4Life – The New Year Revolution cont’d
- C.A.R.E: CARING IN BOTH OLD and NEW WAYS
- Banker’s Association Gives to Gros Islet Secondary...
- A Future for SIDS: The Post-2015 Development Agend...
- A Future for SIDS: The Post-2015 Development Agend...
- A Case for Rain
- Why commuters are taking a back seat
- WANTED: Equity in Taxation!
- THE BLAME GAME … focussing on Saint Lucia
- Ten reasons why it is wrong to give the “morning a...
- Suicide and Youths
- Positive speaking
- Britons’ shameful moment
- A discomforting hurricane season predicted
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April
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18 comments:
Ha! Who's the hero now, huh? No one realized that there were hidden dollar amounts attached to the conditions offered to the Police Association. That, in addition to the overall 4% increase, police officers were also entitled to special allowances.
Forgoing the conditions proposed by the CSA in exchange for a minuscule increase would have been ill-advised. I expect the government to follow suit--curtail the wastage; trim the fat.
you need to get your facts straight before you say there were hidden amounts for police. that has been in the public domain from the inception that in addition to the 4%, there were allowances. stop being ridiculous
What's ridiculous is hailing people as heroes for accepting 4%--and PUTTING COUNTRY BEFORE SELF--but not underscoring the fact that the accompanying conditions included dollar amounts that would further drain the public purse. I'm not saying they were unwarranted, it's just that this FACT was obviously overlooked by an adoring public.
What a joke! After three weeks of strike action and more weeks of no productivity where the country lost millions, we come down to this? What a freaking joke! Only in St. Lucia.
Even the verbiage of Ms Issacs is highly suspect.
Conditions suggest distributive bargaining most suitable for a one-time one-off agreement.
Who with any realism and a sound knowledge of labour relations begins negotiations seeking a collective bargaining agreement, by laying down "conditions"?
These CSA people sound all wet behind the ears, Lord!
Are these people living on the same planet with the rest of us, or are they in idiot country?
I think/know we are in idiot country, above. And I totally agree with your viewpoints.
No complaints from me. As a taxpayer, I'm mostly impacted by the outcome of the negotiations. Their refusal to accept the increase means we're no longer saddled with that potential debt burden. The PM has always maintained that we never had the money anyway. Cheers to the zero!
CSA has turned out to be just a reckless group of technical incompetents.
Neither the government nor the CSA did the basic homework and research on costs for the various Civil Service classifications and pay grades.
Positions adopted were not data based.
A hard data based approached would have given a clearer and more accurate picture of the impact of different (with "What if" scenarios) rates of increase would have on the pay grades.
More importantly, this would have given a more accurate picture how many people would be in which grade each year, and the associated costs in terms of earnings and labour cost (pre-tax and post-tax) during the anticipated life of the agreement.
What a lot of do-nothings lazy easy going, lucky to have a job bunch, having no idea of the harm done to the nation. Some go about their business honourably like the medical nurses and truly deserve better pay, but there are some who should be shown the exit door. Time to trim the size of the so called civil sevants, and the too many political appointments at the top on contracts.
Is she a very conflicted person, or even a very scared person by wearing what appears to be her tribal colours (non-verbal communication) here in the picture in this story?
I could care less about personalities and clothing choice. What's more important is how we're going to dig ourselves out of this debt ditch; further compounded by public sector wage hikes. About time we learn to focus on the real issues. This country is in trouble.
With the other Unions jumping ship what else could CSA do. Your calculation of Party FIRST never crossed your mind?
Its sad the the Government has walked all over the CSA.
I expect within the year to hear about all the cuts that will be required in order to keep the country afloat. So if you think your deal is bad now lots worst to come.
I'm afraid that if the level of technical competence as exhibited by who W. Arthur Lewis thought best to train and lead the administrative direction of the West Indies through the UWI, performed so poorly in the management of their own future, then the region is in grave danger.
But here comes the kicker. William Demas ... in effect ... ADVISED that the output of UWI should be "sub-trained" (though NOT his exact words), so as not to be attractive candidates for a brain drain to First-World Countries.
How myopic!
The products of the UWI are almost everywhere in the CARIFTA now morphed into CARICOM area, as leaders of the political directorate in our sister countries.
How have these outputs been performing?
Even the UWI lecturers, as our goodly Dr. Kenny Anthony was, do not seem up to snuff when dealing with the issues they are confronted with on a global scale.
Witness the LEGAL failures associated with the Frenwell, Black Bay and Grenberg contracts.
Note too, the irony here.
The law is supposedly Dr. Anthony's strongest suit.
Debt and debt-related issues is in the realm of economics. This goes without saying.
Granted that the goodly doctor, is NOT an expert in economics, he therefore depends on his advisors.
If we re-examine his last major statement on economics with a perspective on the future, the Growth Conference jumps to mind.
But granted his speech was written in part by his advisors and the Ministry of Finance, it came very short in terms of showing any mastery of growth/transformation economics, and was devoid of any update/progress/status on any growth or policy set that the SLP has in place. So the PM, as usual, went through the motions making a speech, with a "what the hell am I to do here" expression on his face.
"...[O]ut of this debt ditch" you say?
Both political camps are clueless.
Well, if the past is any guide to the future, you would be well-advised NOT to hold your breath.
Simple, begin by stopping the hemorrhaging. Reduce the excesses. Insist on transparency and accountability from ministers, political appointees, contracted professionals, and the wider public service. Keep track of who's spending/charging what and why. Limit the use of state credit cards, and cut back on fruitless overseas trips with entourages greater than 3, impose phone codes to discourage trunk calls.
Lower than expected collections have proven that VAT, in its current form, has failed--reverse it. Create a "priority list" of all consultants detailing justifiable pay rates, tenure, and proven (in)effectiveness of programs/strategies recommended and implemented.
I honestly don't see why we can't hire consultants for a 6-month period to suggest and help implement strategies, and monitor the effects ourselves. Is it that difficult to tell if a program is useful? Consultancy is NOT a long-term position for retired party loyalists.
Once these measures are implemented, we can then focus on growth strategies. Question is: Do our leaders possess the will, integrity, and fortitude to do what's required?
Come. let us reason together, and let equity and discretion prevail in the conclusion of the matter. On its surface, the terms of the wage negotions seem right; fiduciary benefits are duly pledged to the base wages of employees - medical, education, travel allowances - Furthermore, negotiators seem to have ably defined the the parameters of that vexing phrase, 0% increase; identifying the the group of employees subject to such terms.
However, diligence and integrity will determine whether parties to the deed hve served labor relations in St. Lucia well.
Will we, in the future, reflect on this sapte of government and labor unions and give a final blessing to the value of integrity at the negotiation table?
"Members were of the view that a four percent increase will do nothing for them. Instead it would put a number of them in a higher tax bracket, meaning more taxes will be taken off them which would making a mockery of an increase of that amount."
This statement shows a clear misunderstanding of how marginal tax rates work. Ms. Isaac has gone on national television repeating this as well and either does not understand it either or is lying. Only the NEW income would be in the higher tax bracket should the 4% put someone in a higher tax bracket. Their OLD income will still be taxed at the exact rate as it was before.
Amateurs! You hear them?
Supposedly technical people in Saint Lucia, it would seem, do not understand technical issues pertaining to their own jobs.
They cannot even claim enlightened self-interest.
Now, these technical people are supposed to help government with technical advice and expertise. Yes?
Really?
But not with all this crap that is hitting the fans.
John Compton's social engineering of retiring people very early and replacing them with young, inexperienced and immature apprentices in government departments, some seemingly not even having abandoned their diapers yet, is biting our tails now.
Empty vessels and incompetents ... some of our country-bookie MPs being cases in point ... make the most noise.
What a Mess. No one is honing down on Government's WASTAGE. Expenditure. Loads of travelling by Ministers and their cronies.
What an illiterate society.
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