THE LAST TIME public servants were allowed an increase in incomes and salaries was 2008, to cover a two-year period. We remember that following that increase the David Thompson Government brought the harshest imposition of taxes that any regime has levied in our history.
It is one thing to hit taxpayers with impunity but, when you levy large increases on the providers of services, they write the cheques for the taxation measures but the consumers of these businesses are the eventual payers of all the increases. So the consumers have been unfairly hit twice.
Almost on a weekly basis, consumers lament the stark reality that the prices of goods in the supermarkets and shops appear to increase. Yet the powers that be, by their silence, say very little, thus giving credence to this unfair practice.
Since the launch of our organisation, we have persistently lobbied for relevant legislation that will meet the needs of the modern-day consumer. We have been a member of the advisory committee to the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) where some of our inputs adorn the legislation listed immediately below:
• Consumer Guarantees Act
• Consumer Protection Act
• Electronic Transactions Act
• Fair Competition Act
• Fair Trading Commission Act
• Miscellaneous Controls Act (Amendment)
• The Standards Act
• Utilities Regulation Act
• Telecommunications Act
• Utility Regulation Act Procedural Rules.
We have represented our consumers in Barbados, regionally and internationally. When acting in our capacity as a member of the Advisory Committee to the FTC, we appeared before the joint select committee, before both Houses of Parliament, on the Fair Trading Commission and Utility Regulation Bills. Also, as consumer advocates, we went before the joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament on the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill, 2006.
If what is happening in these times had been conducted during the 18th century, it would be labelled “slavery”. For the state – and the private sector tends to follow Government in these matters – to employ workers without any regard to the cumulative increases of inflation during the period, at least shows gross neglect by their employers and makes one wonder why some of these employees still pay dues to unions, who will parade as the representatives of these people.
Then some in society will question if public servants give of their best as employees of the state. Having served the state in the supervisory management arena, this writer dismisses this type of enquiry, as ignorance. We know where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise. The question needs to be addressed, directly, by the management. The pay of all the workers is crucial.
If maintaining parity is essential, there may be rationale for this. But, at the very least, those workers positioned at the lower rungs of the salary scale need adequate increases as a matter of urgency.
This madness cannot go on indefinitely. Redress is of the utmost necessity. Blaming the economy or even society will not work.
• Reverend H. Malcolm Gibbs-Taitt is director general of the Barbados Consumers Research Organisation, Inc.
