The Prime Minister told the labour representatives that there is no five per cent wage cap and advised that all wage negotiations should be scrapped and resumed, starting from zero.
That has angered OWTU President General Ancel Roget, who told reporters starting from zero only opens the door for another 5 per cent offer and eliminates any progress made so far.
"The Prime Minister...is fully aware of the implications but it seems that miscalculation has got the better of her. We still leave it open to the Government to let good sense prevail," Roget said.
He said the national strike is still on and the collective bargaining process has all but collapsed. And he declared "WAR", starting immediately.
“We are entering a period of war, the exact amount of days we cannot say,” he later said to reporters. “It is like a Carnival season...except in this case you would not have any Ash Wednesday it would be for a prolonged period.”
Roget added, “There are a number of problems that we were putting up with for quite a while trying to make ends meet. But we are not so minded again given the fact that the Government is not cooperating.
"So instructions have been already been given to let us deal with all of those issues and if it has the effect of shutting down, we shut it down. If it carries the effect of protest action, we protest. But I will tell you the season will be long and hard...
“Workers are upset, workers are damn vex about what is happening. We still leave it up to the Government to take action in relation to the wage cap. We will take action without fear or favour,” he said.
Union leaders also rejected an offer for further talks, saying they have no plans to meet again with the Prime Minister of any government official.
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