This is a dangerous situation for many reasons

Apr 11, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
In today’s Kaieteur News [K/N] there is a story captioned “Super salaries are paid to keep skilled labour Says Rohee”
In that article among other nonsense Rohee tells us in response to a previous 2012 K/N article captioned “Govt. insists no super salaries paid to contract workers.” “that the contract workers are being paid on par with public servants”
I cannot agree with Rohee and I would have to say that the KN is very much more right that even they know.
Recently, since it is assumed that I know a bit more about the management and technology of agriculture than the ordinary man, since I worked in agriculture first as a sugar cane technician, then manager of a sugar estate for almost two decades, I was asked to render an analysis on the Ministry of Agriculture’s Budget”
First of all, the main body of the MOA budget is itemised as line items 211, 212, 213, 214. Item 211 is the MOA Administration, 212 Crops and Livestock division, 213 the Fisheries Department and 214 and the Hydromet. department.   The four sections visualise a total allocation of $356.775 million in salaries, 9.398,234 billion in Other Charges and 3.578,190 in Capital expenditure.
The analysis or expansion of line item 211, the main Administration of the MOA, to respond to Mr. Kohee, is on page 100 of volume one of the estimates, item 6111 where we see the details of the 211 MOA’s Administration and I direct Rohee to it, since he thinks that we are all idiots and don’t see the vile agenda his government is executing in this matter. The total MOA requirement for employment costs under this head is of $350.222 million, which will be required to pay the 200 employees working under this head.
We see that 139 of the 200 employees are contracted employees earning 302.101 million [we all know what this is; it is a way to employ friends and family of the ruling party at salaries and conditions which are much more favourable than the negotiated wage structure of the public servants], so 139 contracted employees will earn $302.101 million, an average earning of [$302.101 million/139=] $2,173,388 each, and the remaining 61 legitimate employees will be earning [$350.101-$302.101=$48.000/61 =0.786.000] a total of $48.000 million divided by 61 employees i.e. $786 thousand each for the entire year, whilst the contracted employees will be earning $2,173,388 each per year.
For numerous reasons this is a dangerous situation and I sum them up in no particular order of importance.
1.   This estimate of the national budget [and is repeated across all Ministries in this budget] just tells the opposition that there are 139 contracted employees. We are not told what categories they belong to, so analysing the staffing of the MOA Administration, who are technical, skilled, who are Administrative etc. is practically impossible.
2.   These people are probably of one political alliance and are not unionised, not to mention probably one ethnic group and their salaries are adjusted by around 45% upward every year! We don’t even know if they pay NIS or taxes, in other words the salaries of the contracted workers, all of them, regardless of whether they are Administrative staff or cleaner, doubles every two years. The regular unionised workers get the usual five percent per annum.
3.   If a party other than the PPP gets control of the government in this country, guess what would happen if you have to regularise 139 of 200 employees? It would be total chaos for anyone who wanted to address this unfair situation.
4.   The wickedness of the PPP to set in place a situation like this defies description, and it is done mainly to undermine the unions and the opposition; since in a budget of $350.222 million for all of the staff of the MOA, the contracted employees now earn $302.101 million in salaries i.e. 86.25% of the total employment costs under heading 211, and the regular staff now only ear 13.75% of the total employment allocation.
We have to stop this now, it’s wrong, it’s anti-working class, it’s unlawful since the unions are being marginalised and gives credence to the current accusations of ethnic cleansing.
What I have recorded here is very similar to what obtains in the fisheries and Hydromet. sections.
Tony Vieira

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