“We want we money and we want it now”

Public Sectors Workers Ready to collect

The government of Grenada has an overdue 4% salary increase for Public workers who are ‘dead serious’ about collecting their monies.

In recent times the various unions representing Public Workers and the Government’s negotiating team have held many meetings with a view of settling the impasse with no meaningful results.

During the 2021 May Day march, from the Tempe playing Field to the Kirani James Athletic Stadium, workers aligned to all but one of the trade unions vented their anger and frustration with their employers, especially the ruling administration, to have the matter of the four percent resolved.

Workers lined themselves behind the leaders and banners of their respective unions and echoed one profound statement on the day, “We want we money and we want it now”.

The 2021 Labour Day March, was initially planned by the Grenada Trade Unions’ Council (G.T.C.) to observe International Workers Day but was used by grieving workers, to protest the failure of the ruling government to meet and to honour a signed agreement between the New National Party (N.N.P) and unions representing Public Workers and teachers.

For more than two hours on May 1^st 2021 the Tempe and River Road, main roads became a gateway for grieving workers to vent their frustrations.

The march started at about 10 am and two hours later, at noon to be exact, the small but militant group of aggrieved workers got to the stadium, not before echoing and chanting some choice words and phrases to their employers and some special advice for the prime minister Dr The Right Honourable Keith Mitchell, in particular, was given, even though he is not the Minister with responsibility for labour or Minister of finance, but who they blame for the impasse between the government and their unions.

Residents of Tempe, River Road, bystanders and motorist all heard just how serious the workers are about the four percent that is due to them.

One male elderly motorist making his way east along River Road met the agitated workers at the entrance to the River Road Housing Scheme, where the traffic ground to a halt and after listening to the chants of some workers, which cannot be repeated in this article, he simply said” allyuh really serious about this four percent.”

Jude Bartholomew, President General of the Grenada Union of Teachers (G.U.T.) eight days before the observance of Labour Day 2021, had to make an appearance before officers of the Royal Grenada Police Force (R.G.P.F.) at the St. David’s Division, to answer questions surrounding a protest action that was taken by some members of the G.U.T. in that region, which allegedly resulted in a breach of Covid-19 protocols.

That incident added fuel to a fire that was slowly growing but has since begun to blaze, with members of the general public joining in what is becoming a solidarity movement on behalf of grieving teachers and public workers.

When The Barnacle caught up with Bartholomew on the River Road main road, he was defiant as ever vowing never to give up the struggle.

He said, “we the teachers and the members of the Public Workers’ Union (P.W.U.) are going through a grieving process. We are facing many issues and the four percent is the overriding factor but we are dealing with many issues that are paining us.”   

“We have signed agreements that are not honoured by the Government and the Ministry of Education; including our pension, docked salaries from a recent protest and now our four percent.

“Also the issue of regularizing of contractor workers; so many teachers, nurses, doctors and other public workers are operating temporarily, this kind of injustice is the motivating factor that is forcing us to come out on to the streets to demonstrate our disapproval with our employer, the government of Grenada,” He ended.   Grenadian workers marched, chanted, begged, pleaded and protested in many ways in search of this four percent with no end in sight.  No one knows just as yet how far this impasse will go, nor when or how it will end.  One thing is for certain, according to signed, contractual agreements Government owes Public workers four percent and the workers are demanding it.