WORKERS of Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) have had their wages slashed by 20 per cent as the Government seeks to provide more jobs in the run-up to the general election.
Payments for the final fortnights of the fiscal year have been arbitrarily reduced as the authorities attempt to place as many workers as possible on the payroll.
That means that URP workers are now taking home less than they did in 2019 when wages were increased by 15 percent.
During the intervening period, there have been major increases in the prices of food, transportation, accommodation, school books and other essentials.
Before the indiscriminate wage reduction, foremen and forewomen were paid $86 a day, and male and female workers received a daily wage of $69.
There are six divisions and two programmes, Core and Women’s.
The Ministry of Works and Transport, which spends some $500 million a year on the programme, has not made any statement on the severe financial blow to the lowest-paid group of workers.
There are more than 50,000 URP workers in Trinidad, more than double the number of the administration of Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
The Tobago House of Assembly, which got $18 million for the programme in the most recent national budget, employs just over 3,000 workers.
URP operations are divided into the fiscal year’s 26 fortnights, but the creation of more jobs often leads to revenues being depleted.
The fiscal year ends on September 30.
Most of the recently added workers are operatives of the People’s National Movement (PNM), some of whom hold constituency party positions and are mandated to take part in political campaigning.
The workers are deployed to street canvassing and other electioneering activities.
They are also asked to attend the PNM’s sports and family days and other functions, even on weekends, or risk not being placed on the work roster.
Workers are quietly grumbling over the cutback in their wages, but are afraid to make public queries for fear of being axed from the programme.
One single mother of San Juan said: “The Government is spending $120 million on a building for pan and wasting funds elsewhere but is treating the poorest people like dirt.
“Does the Prime Minister know how it feels to be unable to buy groceries for your little children?”
URP and Community-Based Environment Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) are meant to provide jobs to the most vulnerable in society.
Various reports reveal that around 25 per cent of the country is considered poor, of which about five per cent are unable to buy food and other critical necessities.
While URP is aimed at lifting the weak and defenceless from poverty, the reduced wages are adding to the mounting cost of living and social crisis.
Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has said that with the weakened economy, the Government may have to decrease its allocations to social welfare programmes.
Like all other citizens, URP workers must pay Property Tax and the expected increase to utility rates.
