B'dos Gov't continues retrenchment programme but PM unhappy with execution

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Barbados government is continuing its retrenchment programme in order to meet its expenditure reduction targets and to restructure the public service,  head of the Civil Service Dr Louis Woodroffe said.

“As stated previously, the programme, which involved most ministries and departments, sought in all instances to abide by the principle of last in, first out. The process also sought to ensure that cheques and termination letters were given to affected individuals at the same time,” he said in a statement.

Woodroffe said that permanent secretaries and heads of departments have reported that they have sought to follow the policies for conducting this process as required by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and this was adhered to in the vast majority of cases.

But he acknowledged “media reports point to some anomalies in the process and where such occurred, they are deeply regretted. However, there was no wide spread chaos across the system”.

On Friday, Prime Minister Mottley, speaking at a loan signing ceremony with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) again expressed disappointment with the way in which the retrenchment exercise in the public service is being executed.

“Am I happy with the manner in which the retrenchment is being executed? No, I am not and I have said so to the public service and to the head of the public service. But I also understand that there are a number of reasons, some good and some bad, as to why it is being undertaken in this way.

“I regret that we have found a situation in the structure and function of the public service that does not match what we left a decade ago with respect to systems and we have to review these systems going forward….

“We have also to recognise that even though I am not happy, I am conscious that I have set very, very, very, very high standards. Those standards I have set with respect to persons being able to go home with…cheques have been met in a number of departments, but regrettably it has not happened in all and to that extent, therefore, I am not happy,” she told reporters.

The government has embarked on an economic and recovery transformation (BERT) programme and Mottley said that the programme had received the stamp of approval by the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) when it agreed to a near US$300 million dollar Extended Fund Facility (EFF) aimed at turning around the ailing economy.

Mottley noted that in 2014, some retrenched public servants had to wait for a while to get their cheques. She stressed, however, that this would not happen in this instance, adding that it was not beyond the capacity of persons to work out the amounts.

“The only difficult one is to work out the vacation pay because with the Last In, First Out process, the persons are being chosen, not by name, but by date of hire and if you know the date of hire and the date today, then you can work out the length of period and hence you can compute the severance-type conditions,” she said.

Mottley said that agreeing to retrenchment of workers was the hardest thing she has had to do in public life.

“But I understand that it is absolutely critical to the country for our stability and for our ability to transform. That is why we are going to work hard to make sure that we can reabsorb, retrain, give people access to land, give people access to vendors’ licenses and we are trying to put in place all of these things over the next few months…. What they [the displaced workers] go home with, should be able to tie them over for two or three months while we put these other things in place,” she stated

In his statement, Woodroffe said that there is deep awareness in the public sector of the impact on affected workers and, within this context, officers in various government agencies worked tirelessly to ensure not only that the process was as efficient as possible, but also that their colleagues were treated fairly.

“Now that the process is coming to an end, the focus will be on seeking to have affected persons retrained and reengaged as quickly as possible to provide various services to the private and public sectors, thereby contributing to rebuilding the Barbados economy.

“This is a top priority for Government and is being pursued with a high degree of urgency, as are the other supports outlined in the Prime Minister’s recent address to the nation,” Woodroffe added.