Dear Editor,
Peter Phillips is attempting, either through ignorance or deception, to cheat public sector workers out of a fair wage increase.
He is quoted as saying: "The lowering of inflation has been making it easier for Jamaicans to survive." There is a strong implication here that the lower inflation will make people's limited incomes go further, which is very misleading. Even the much-touted inflation figure of 6.4 per cent for 2014 means that prices in 2014 went up 6.4 per cent not that they somehow went down. We would need dis-inflation, or negative inflation, to make our money go further. All that 6.4 per cent represents is a slowing down of the rate of increase in prices.
Given the now five-year freeze on public sector salaries, an average of 8-9 per cent inflation during that time amounts to a 50 per cent increase in prices when compounded. Thus, public sector workers got a nominal wage hike of 50 per cent the real increase in salaries when compared to five years ago, would be zero.
If the unions are asking only for 30 per cent, they should be congratulated, since this means a sacrificial cut of 20 per cent in their spending power. Can Phillips ask for more sacrifice than this on the altar of IMF economic orthodoxy?
Five years of sacrifice and still no real signs of meaningful growth, no real light at the end of the tunnel, no real improvement in employment -- unless we count the increase in unsecure, low-paid, informal and contract work.
The 7.5 per cent primary surplus demanded by the IMF on behalf of the wealthy creditors, including the banks, must be relaxed. It is sucking the economy dry, preventing demand-led growth and impoverishing our people -- confirmed by the 2012 Survey of Living Conditions.
We cannot improve lives without spending, including capital spending, on education, health and infrastructure; nor can an economy prosper when even trade unions are suggesting overseas employment as an answer to our overqualified, unemployed young people.
Paul Ward
Campaign for Social & Economic Justice
Kingston 7
pgward72@gmail.com
Phillips misleading public sector workers
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Peter Phillips is attempting, either through ignorance or deception, to cheat public sector workers out of a fair wage increase.
He is quoted as saying: "The lowering of inflation has been making it easier for Jamaicans to survive." There is a strong implication here that the lower inflation will make people's limited incomes go further, which is very misleading. Even the much-touted inflation figure of 6.4 per cent for 2014 means that prices in 2014 went up 6.4 per cent not that they somehow went down. We would need dis-inflation, or negative inflation, to make our money go further. All that 6.4 per cent represents is a slowing down of the rate of increase in prices.
Given the now five-year freeze on public sector salaries, an average of 8-9 per cent inflation during that time amounts to a 50 per cent increase in prices when compounded. Thus, public sector workers got a nominal wage hike of 50 per cent the real increase in salaries when compared to five years ago, would be zero.
If the unions are asking only for 30 per cent, they should be congratulated, since this means a sacrificial cut of 20 per cent in their spending power. Can Phillips ask for more sacrifice than this on the altar of IMF economic orthodoxy?
Five years of sacrifice and still no real signs of meaningful growth, no real light at the end of the tunnel, no real improvement in employment -- unless we count the increase in unsecure, low-paid, informal and contract work.
The 7.5 per cent primary surplus demanded by the IMF on behalf of the wealthy creditors, including the banks, must be relaxed. It is sucking the economy dry, preventing demand-led growth and impoverishing our people -- confirmed by the 2012 Survey of Living Conditions.
We cannot improve lives without spending, including capital spending, on education, health and infrastructure; nor can an economy prosper when even trade unions are suggesting overseas employment as an answer to our overqualified, unemployed young people.
Paul Ward
Campaign for Social & Economic Justice
Kingston 7
pgward72@gmail.com
Phillips misleading public sector workers
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