COPS PLAN CARNIVAL SICK-OUT

FRUSTRATED police officers are planning a sick-out on Carnival days to protest the non-payment of their long-overdue backpay.

Around 7,000 officers are owed some $300 million.

Officers have been anxiously waiting for the retroactive payment, which is based on a four per cent salary increase negotiated with the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) last February 17.

Police Service Social and Welfare Association President Gideon Dickson said ominously that “this is not healthy going into the Carnival period.”

Dickson stated that there is no indication of when the backpay would be issued.

He earlier stated that the payment was expected by last Christmas.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert assured in mid-December that officers of the protective services and other public sector workers would be given their backpay by Christmas.

Imbert said he was monitoring the matter.

Dickson described the non-payment as “untenable for those officers who have a legitimate expectation.”

He said he understood the frustration of affected officers.

The delay in issuance of the backpay is deepening the frustration among police officers after accepting a much lower salary increase than they had projected.

The officers are also receiving an increase in allowances.

Officers who retired between 2014 and 2015 secured a $4,000 on-time lump-sum payment. 

The slow pace of making payments adds to the aggravation in the police service over officers placing their lives at risk at the hands of armed and dangerous criminals.

The Government, through the CPO, has concluded negotiations with most public sector trade unions for four per cent salary increases, for the period dating back to 2014.

The Public Services Association and National Union of Government and Federated Workers are the only two hold-out labour bodies.

Last November, Kurt Meyer, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, was transferred after he reportedly said that backpay could not be facilitated until May 2024.

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley publicly criticised Meyer on a public platform.

Rowley said he had a meeting with Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Maurice Suite and asked if the public service “had gone mad.”

He later said publicly: “I did what had to be done, and that’s it.”

But police officers are concerned that the Prime Minister has not shown similar vigilance concerning their backpay.

“We protect and serve and, are, therefore, no less important than those in other areas of the public service,” one officer said.

“Our backpay should also have been prioritised especially with the current state of crime and the demands that are placed on us.

“We work in extremely stressful circumstances.

“We cannot continue to accept this negligence from the authorities.”

Carnival policing is the largest single responsibility for local law enforcement.