And back in May, the PM said that in order to give the teachers an 8.5% salary increase, about 63 million dollars would be added to the already bloated wage bill. Today the FinSec stated that the government can hardly manage its current bill, and alluded to increased taxes as a solution to the BNTU's demands.
Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary:
Reporter:
"It is alarming for you, the figures, giving how the wage bill has ballooned over time?"
Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary:
"It continues. Any point increase is 7 million dollars or so for 1 percentage. Do the math."
Reporter:
"So you all are crunching those numbers."
Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary:
"We have to do it everyday but then the question is, one is to determine how much it will cost, the bigger question is how will you pay for it?"
"We can hardly afford what we're doing right now but we have to look at it and we have to see where things go. Hopefully, we don't have to raise taxes but you never know."
And in a press release by the Joint Union Negotiations Team, they rejected statements made by Ministers Usher and Fonseca yesterday. They explained that after receiving the government's official offer on May 21st, they rejected points #4 and 5 which referred to their preferred method for the salary adjustment and increment restoration.
However, they emphasized that despite the comments by the ministers, they have not received any response or counteroffer from the government. | 