Police in Trinidad and Tobago are threatening to begin a "work to rule" if the government doesn't give them a 40 per cent pay increase. The last time they got an increase was in 2007.The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Social Welfare Association (TTPSSWA) asked for the big increase last week during a meeting with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Association President Sgt. Anand Ramesar told local media Persad-Bissessar has asked Finance Minister Winston Dookeran to instruct the CPO, Stephanie Lewis, to resume negotiations with police next week.
Ramesar is not optimistic about getting the hefty pay rise for the police."The feedback that I am getting, it does not appear that the Government is willing to put the 40 per cent as it is. Having met with the CPO and the Finance Minister, I am not convinced that there is a 40 per cent increase in the salaries," he told the Express newspaper.
"They have not indicated what they are offering, but I am saying that I am not convinced that there is a willingness to give us what were are asking for."
Ramesar admitted that it would be a "hard fight" if the Government fails to meet his association's demands.
He again threatened that his members will not work with the new Commissioner of Police, Canadian Dwayne Gibbs, and his Canadian deputy, Jack Ewatski, if the local officers don't get what they want."If we are going to work the extra mile and do anything beyond the parameters of our duties, then our salary issue must be first addressed, and we have made it a prerequisite.
"We stand firm and strong on that position. We are not going to relent in our position. We are going to continue to agitate. We will do what we can within the legal parameters to ensure that our situation does not go unaddressed," Ramesar told the paper.
"We are not prepared to bend over backwards, and we are not prepared to work outside the legal hours.
"We are prepared to implement our legal position, and we are looking at the ILO (International Labour Organisation) convention, the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Authority, Police Service Regulations, and we are going to enforce them," Ramesar said.
Also read: Commentary by John Lindsay: Police are sadly misguided
1 comment:
I'm not quite sure what the police are thinking here.
The "give us more or we're gonna give you less" aspect is of course, clear enough.
That said, is it their collective opinion that they are currently giving the country an overall sterling service, with world class and commendable levels of achievement in law enforcement results, for which they are each and every one, a/ deserving of credit and b/ all being underpaid?
Then they are sadly misguided.
Whilst I am sure that the overall "system" needs serious revision and improvement, so that more criminals are caught and arrested, prosecuted and after due process found guilty and punished, can there be anyone, civillian or police officer that does not know that the force has more than its fair share of the lazy, of crooks and of morons.
The job of police officers, DONE RIGHT, warrants both respect and good pay and conditions. But at this point the country has had far too much experience of the "other kind" of police officers and what is laughingly referred to as "service", to have any illusions about their presence in the TTPS, or their impact upon its performance.
I sincerely hope that under the upcoming "new management" a fundamentally needed and urgently needed undertaking will be the sorting of the gems from the dross.
As far as I am concerned, paying more to all officers, irrespective of their worth, integrity or performance, would be not only a monumental waste of taxpayers money, but also a slap in the face to those officers that deserve it.
What I'm hearing by this second asinine threat in three weeks, is equivalent to standing in front of a stove and saying "Give me some warmth and then I'll consider putting some wood in you".
If people were not being murdered, raped, injured and robbed on a near daily basis, while you posture and threat, this would be a joke.
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