Duke declares war on TRHA, health workers not paid

President of the Public Service Association (PSA) Watson Duke has declared war on the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA).

Duke made the disclosure while speaking with Newsday Tobago yesterday following the issuance of an internal memo on Thursday informing health care workers in Tobago that September salaries were delayed and as such, payments would not be available until October 6, 2017.

“This is war… I am not going to say too much, all I can say at this time is that this is war,” Duke said. A number of employees said they were indeed upset as all other public servants would have been paid.

“This is really unfair to us. What about people’s mortgage payments, school fees… we have families to take care of too. When we saw the memorandum from the Ministry of Finance advising of early payments due to the closure of the financial year, we welcomed it with open arms then to get this disappointing email from the TRHA on Thursday, we cannot carry that letter to our creditors and the thing is up to now they have not informed us as to why, all we know is what is in the email, that salaries have been delayed until October 6,” said one health care employee.

Another reminisced on Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles stance that late payment would be a thing of the past, a statement he made when he entered office earlier this year. “This is really in poor taste… I clearly remember the Chief Secretary making the point that late payments will be a thing of the past, we welcomed that with open arms as well but how would he explain this,” she asked.

Additionally, Newsday Tobago contacted the Communications Department of the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) questioning the reason as to why payments were delayed but no reason could be provided.