The Port Police officers who have been severed from their jobs will receive their full severance pay, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says.
Gonsalves was asked to respond this week to statements by Opposition Leader, Arnhim Eustace that the Port Police officers would not be paid for their first two years of employment.
Eustace said he had seen a letter given to workers and noted that the non-payment for their first two years of employment was contrary to an amendment to the severance pay law earlier this year.
Parliament changed the law to make it clear that workers are entitled to severance pay from their first day on the job.
“The Port Authority is more important than the Parliament? The Port Authority can make law?” Eustace said, in reference to the letter given to the Port Police officers.
But Gonsalves said that the letter given to the workers had a wrong calculation, which has since been corrected.
He said while he has not seen any of the letters, he had seen the reports in the media.
“And then I said this has to be an error. And then I was told by the persons at the Port responsible for this that there was an error but it was corrected,” he said.
Gonsalves further said that never in a million years will his government short change workers on their severance pay.
Why then has this statement taken so long to write.
Would the Port Police have gotton whats due wiithout the fuss by the public and the NDP.
This whole matter arrose because this group of workers were demanding overdue payment going back months and years. They only wanted what was owed to them, they were forced to act, in European countries they could of left the job and claimed unfair dismissal. Because to owe people money due to them is what is called constructive dismissal. Shame the unions are such SHITE.
SINCE WHEN .THAT WILL NOT BE THE FIRST TIME
The Port Police were not just severed, they were chopped, hacked down and consigned to the ULP weak worker rubbish heap, sent there to join a number of teachers and irrigation workers.
Gonsalves was asked to respond this week to statements by Opposition Leader, the Honourable Arnhim Eustace that the Port Police officers would not be paid for their first two years of employment.
The Port Authority is more important than the Parliament? The Port Authority can make law? Eustace said, in reference to the letter given to the Port Police officers.
Honourable Mr Eustace, I need to remind you that Gonsalves is the Minister in charge of Ports and Port Police.
This Ministry was established in 2001 and is responsible for the administrative functions of the Police Department, Prison and Airports. The Ministry is also responsible for the St. Vincent Port Authority, the National Commission on Crime Prevention, the Maritime Commission, the Public Sector Reform Unit, the National Advisory Board on Security and the National Civil Aviation Committee.
Yes those are his responsibilities,[…]
Its all very well coming forward now and saying, the letter given to the workers had a wrong calculation, which has since been corrected. He has told us he hasn’t seen any of the letters, he had only seen the reports in the media. And then I said this has to be an error. And then I was told by the persons at the Port responsible for this that there was an error but it was corrected, he said.
When you are a Minister you are responsible for the actions of others who are under your control. You cannot just cop-out, you cannot take all the glory when things go right, and reject responsibility when they go wrong.
You must be regarded as the man with the big chopper, sorry I am not sure that term is absolutely correct in the case of this man. Perhaps someone would like to put some corrective terminology in place.
When Gonsalves addressed this matter he should of told us all as the Minister of National Security, part of his portfolio is the Port Authority. He is the Minister of the Port Authority. He is the very top of the Port Authority. He makes his statement sound like its them and him as separate entities, they are not, he is the top man. As the top man, as the Minister do you not think he would know what is going on? if not shouldn’t he know? if not shouldn’t he go?
Gonsalves holds many Ministries. Yet he continually claims he knows nothing of what is going on until he reads it in the press. It would seem to me that he should give all those Ministries to other MPs who have the time to oversee those ministries properly. Its quite obvious to me that Gonsalves has so many Ministerial responsibilities, he cannot manage them all properly, no human being could. He is not a young man, in fact he is approaching seventy. Grossly overweight and many citizens fear for his longevity, fear that his health will become the problem of the people. Fear that because he holds so many ministries the whole government will collapse if anything happened to him, no one else is trained in those ministries.
If you were employed in a job and told your employer you didn’t know something was happening in the department that you held the overall responsibility for, until you read about it in the press, you would be fired on the spot. Unfortunately we cannot fire him on the spot, but I am hopeful we will be rid of him soon.
Just a simple question, does a member of parliament get more pay if he holds a ministry? Does the Minister of each ministry get personal expenses and allowances for holding such ministry? If the answer is yes, how much does Gonsalves get in extra salary for each Ministry that he holds? and how much in expenses? We know what he is paid as Prime Minister, what does he get for the rest?
PM I am not implying or expressing any wrong doing on your part, but as the people who pay your wages and whatever else you may get, we would like to know. I for one would like to evaluate your worth to the State.