Philipsburg:--- The President of the Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) Claire Elshot told members of the media on Thursday during the press conference called by the Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions (WICLU) that she is prepared to attend the meeting the Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams has promised to schedule to discuss the COL payments. Elshot said up to Thursday morning she did not receive any invitation from the Prime Minister neither the GOA. However, she made clear that she will make herself available whenever the meeting is scheduled.Elshot said that based on the GOA advice and the Minister of Finance the monies for the Cost of Living Allowance were available to government and she cannot understand how it got out of the 2012 budget. "One thing for sure I know is that the COL payments cannot walk and someone had to take it out. I do not know why those responsible for drafting the budget did not cut the travelling expenses for the elected officials. They don't need to attend the Parlatino meetings or go to the Bahamas now but the teachers need their two pennies since it is going to impact their spending power, I believe government should invest in equipment for teleconferencing."
Elshot further explained that the union is not interested in any more backlogs since the civil servants had to take serious measures before they could have been paid for 2007 to 2009. Besides that, Elshot said the WITU has board members and she would have to take up the matter and possible solutions with her members. "I cannot tell you what the union will do and how we will deal with the non-payment of the COL. One thing for sure is that the members (civil servants) will not take this lightly. They already had problems when government decided that they would make the payments in two parts last year." Elshot said for the Prime Minister to say the monies was not budgeted is not consoling to her because it's the same Prime Minister who sent her a letter informing her that government was waiting on an advice from GOA. Elshot said at no time were they informed that there are no monies for the COL payment. She said that the only thing the Minister of Finance indicated on the GOA advice was that the COL payments should not be made public until the 2012 budget is approved. The WITU president said she does not think government should try to balance any budget at the expense of the civil servants. She felt that government should try and find a solution and make sure the salary indexation gets into the 2012 budget. She said if there were not monies then the meeting that the Prime Minister wants to hold now should have been held prior to her sending the letter to the union. Elshot also made clear that the union will not stand for any type of social injustice against workers. "This social injustice took place once when workers who worked and went on pension did not get their indexation while persons who joined the civil core at a later period got monies for periods they did not work. She said this was corrected when those workers had to file a claim during a one year period. All I am saying is give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar because the union will not encourage any type of backlog again.
