Abdulah tells PM: Mash brakes, reject SRC report

MOVEMENT for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah has called upon the Prime Minister to “mash brakes” and reject the Salaries Review Commission’s (SRC) 120th report which has recommended salary increases for several public officials, including himself.

In a virtual news conference on December 1, Abdulah said Dr Rowley’s comment at a post-Cabinet news conference on November 28 that Cabinet had accepted the report was disrespectful to the population and citizens must raise their voices in protest against it.

“Real leaders lead by example.”

He repeated the MSJ’s position that it was “immoral, obscene and an abuse of power” for government to accept the recommendations of the 120th report at a time when many citizens are struggling to make ends meet and workers are being expected to take a four per cent wage offer over six years down their throats.

Abdulah claimed Rowley’s comment suggested the government did not care about the rest of the country and was only seeking its own self-interest.

“It is A for apple, B for bat and C for yourself.”

He called on the population to reject in its entirety a Sunday Express report on December 1, in which Rowley said the SRC’s 117th report was rejected by the government because of a threat of legal action by judges.

Abdulah said that statement and the report were a “red herring” to deflect attention away from the fact that government had accepted the 120th SRC report, although it is had no obligation to do so.

He recalled that other governments in the past had either rejected SRC recommendations in totality or partially.

Abdulah said no legal threat was raised in relation to the 120th report.

He added there was nothing in the Constitution or the law which obligated any government to accept recommendations from the SRC.

Abdulah said instead of using a post-Cabinet news conference to announce government’s acceptance of the SRC’s recommendations, Rowley should have allowed the Parliament to debate the matter.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert laid the 120th SRC report in the House of Representatives on November 15.

There is a motion filed in Imbert’s name on the House’s order paper to approve the report.

That motion has not been debated yet.

Abdulah said, “Let’s hear the views of everyone.”

He called on Leader of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis and Opposition Whip David Lee to allow their respective MPs to speak their conscience and not toe either a PNM or UNC line when they debate this motion.

Abdulah was shocked at Rowley’s comment on November 28 about members of Cabinet being hard-working and deserving of the increases recommended by the SRC.

“Nobody else in Trinidad and Tobago works hard? Is that true? Is that right?”

While he believed that some of the public officials mentioned in the SRC’s 120th report, Abdulah questioned whether a proper job evaluation was done on all of the officials who fall under the commission’s purview “from captain to cook.”

He recalled that when the details of the 120th report were revealed on November 15, the MSJ called for mass action by citizens to reject its recommendations.

Abdulah said he was pleased since then that several workers, led by their respective trade unions, have engaged in peaceful public protests to express their outrage at the recommendations of the SRC report and Rowley’s announcement that government accepts them.

In its 120th report, the SRC noted concerns raised by certain office-holders over recommendations in its 117th report, which was laid in the House in February. Among those raising concerns at that time were members of the Judiciary, who questioned the methods the SRC used to evaluate their salaries and terms of service. The recommendations of the 117th report were never implemented.

The current salaries of the President, Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are based on recommendations in the SRC’s 98th report, which was laid in the House on February 14, 2014, and subsequently approved.

The commission is now recommending:

PM’s salary to rise from $59,680 to $87,847, a 47 per cent increase, effective from October 1, 2023.

President: from $64,270 to $81,170, from April 1, 2023, an increase of 26 per cent.

Opposition Leader: from $29,590 to $52,159, effective October 1, 2023, a 76 per cent increase.

Cabinet ministers: from $41,030 to $52,159 effective October 1, 2023, an increase of 27 per cent

Non-cabinet-member ministers: from $33,940 to $43,155 respectively, a 27 per cent increase.

Senators (who are not government ministers or parliamentary secretaries): from $13,060 to $17,020, effective October 1, 2023.

MPs who are neither ministers nor parliamentary secretaries: from $17,410 to $22,695, effective October 1, 2023.