The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) has taken the first step toward saving the jobs of 3 000 public servants who are scheduled for termination early next year.
Just hours after promising to open dialogue to see how what the NUPW has to say can be incorporated into its plans, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart met with a high level team from the largest public sector union at 2 p.m. at Government Headquarters yesterday.
The team, led by president Walter Maloney and general secretary Dennis Clarke, talked with the Prime Minister for just over an hour, and a source close to the discussion said “the door has been opened by the Prime Minister for alternatives”.
This, the source explained, was a counter to the announcement by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler last Friday that between January and March 2014 Government would sever thousands of public workers, among other measures aimed at correcting a major cash shortage facing the administration.
Describing it as an emergency meeting, the source said the Prime Minister opened the way for the union to continue “negotiations” with the Ministry of the Civil Service, based on alternative measures which the union has been formulating in recent weeks.
