The Women’s Institute for Alternative Development (WINAD) is calling on the Government to clarify what is going to happen should the Privy Council agrees to operationalise the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA).
Public servants had until July 31, 2024, to indicate whether they would choose to move over to the TTRA, retire, or transfer to another public institution.
“As the lawyers, SCs and KCs alike, battle as to the constitutionality of the move, for this country there remains an even larger issue. It is the cataclysmic shift in the conditions of labour that is being foisted on the country by the largest employer taking on such a broad sweep of persons on contract,” WINAD stated in a media release.
“Workers working on contract in the public service are not public servants. I must ask the Finance Minister (Colm Imbert) and the Minister of Public Administration (Allyson West) about the arrangements made to facilitate such a widespread employment on contract for such critical services,” WINAD said. “Also, what are the structures in place to ensure the fair and equitable redeployment of those workers who do not sign on to the TTRA?”
WINAD’s questions come as the Public Services Association (PSA) hopes to meet with the office of the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) to discuss the terms and conditions being offered to workers.
Last week, CPO Dr Daryl Dindial wrote to PSA president Leroy Baptiste asking for a meeting at his convenience sometime this week. The invitation for talks came after Baptiste raised concerns on behalf of his members at the Board and Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise Division.
Baptiste said his members have questions about the move to the TTRA, which included compensation and the details of the Voluntary Separation Package, should they choose that option.
Days before the deadline, acting Finance Minister Allyson West said 60 per cent of some 1,200 workers had not yet submitted their response. Of the remaining 40 per cent, she revealed the majority agreed to join the TTRA.
“Good Governance requires that this move be made clear to us, the public,” WINAD asserts in the release. “
“We are all aware of the complications of contract labour within the Public Service. The loss of institutional memory is also to be considered. How this will be experienced in the life of these workers, most of whom are women, is an important consideration. The end of contract is an insecure time. We are institutionalizing precarious labour conditions,” the organisation warned.
WINAD called on the Government for more clarity on the move to the TTRA.