VSEP SHOCK
2,000 Govt workers defy Cabinet offer of separation packages
Renuka Singh
Saturday, March 7th 2009
Employees at the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) are still reeling from the shocking news that they may be out of jobs.
The news reached workers yesterday through a senior BIR staff member who spoke with employees about the Cabinet's decision on Thursday to offer a Voluntary Separation Employment Programme (VSEP) to all employees of the BIR and the Customs and Excise and the opportunity to re-apply for employment under the soon-to-be-established Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA), instead of being absorbed into the new Authority as was expected.
The TTRA is set to be a single entity that encompasses the Board of Inland Revenue and the Customs and Excise Division.
One employee at the BIR said she is simply confused by the whole thing. "I am just very surprised and very confused," she said in a telephone interview yesterday, under the condition of anonymity.
"We knew about the formation of the TTRA, but we naturally assumed that the employees would be absorbed into this new Authority. It happened when TTPost was formed and it happened when the Civil Aviation was formed, so why the change now?"
She said she still cannot understand how government employees can just be sent home without any real explanations.
"It's almost like all the employees were just fired. We don't even know what happens next."
President of the Public Services Association, Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, at a press conference held at the association's headquarters on Abercromby Street in Port of Spain, yesterday, said she felt it was "an act of betrayal".
She said the government betrayed the 2,000 members of the PSA who were depending on their decisions.
Primus said she was included in all the planning meetings held by the Minister of Finance, Karen Nunez Tesheira, up until the Cabinet's final decision on Thursday.
She said that both parties agreed on a mutual approach that bridged that gap between the two more radical approaches that were previously discussed-the big bang approach and the gradualist approach.
"A hybrid approach was agreed upon that reflected the four basic advantages the government was seeking, including revitalising management, maximum support for the top-level staff, allowing new modern management and tools, and allowing a large number of existing employees a chance for a job in the TTRA," she said.
She said even though all parties agreed on the hybrid plan, she received a call from Nunez-Tesheira on Thursday informing her that Cabinet had decided to offer VSEP instead.
"We will do what we have to do to protect job security of our employees," she said.
Primus said she was really very angry over this "dismantling of a public service".
She said that it is unfortunate that such a large majority is paying for the corrupt few that the government is trying to weed out.
And Primus insisted, "We ain't taking that so!"
