Lloyd Brown, director of cash management in the Ministry of Finance, meets Civil Service Association president Eddie Bailey and a group of civil service travel officers at the Ministry's Heroes Circle offices yesterday.-- Junior Dowie CIVIL SERVICE travelling officers have rejected the government's latest offer on their outstanding travelling allowance increase and have vowed to stop travelling after Monday if their demands are not met by then.
At a special general meeting at the Jacisera Park headquarters of the Civil Service Association yesterday, a large group of travelling officers from across the island voted unanimously to reject the latest offer from government. This offer came yesterday morning, after a rejection of an earlier offer made last Wednesday.
After a short, stormy meeting, the irate civil servants underlined their disgust by staging a motorcade to the Heroes Circle office of the Ministry of Finance, where a group of association members informed a Ministry spokesman of their decision not to accept the Ministry's offer.
The public servants dismiss the governments claim of an "inability to pay", pointing out the figure being demanded was not a real addition to their salaries but merely a reimbursement of the money they have to fork out on their job-required travelling expenses. Association president Eddie Bailey pointed out the formula used to calculate the travelling allowance demand was one agreed on by the government.
Some members said in the face of bad road conditions, a sliding dollar and rising petrol and insurance costs, they are not prepared to accept any less than the agreed amount, and are not prepared to further "subsidise the government's work".
The association's demand on behalf of travelling officers with motor vehicles is $202,640.04 per annum, up from $168,816 per annum. The government's latest offer was $180,000.
Travelling officers who commute would get an agreed percentage of whatever is accepted by their non-commuting colleagues and also on the table is a demand for a 'mileage' allowance of $11.70 per kilometre, to which the government has offered $9.70.
