The Tribune

TEACHERS ready for industrial action, nurses voting for industrial action – it looks like there are rocks ahead amid talk of the economy flowing again.

The most immediate of those will be whatever action the nurses decide on. As The Tribune was going to press last night, union president Amancha Williams said that the majority of nurses who voted in yesterday’s strike poll had voted to take action.

“We know the nurses are ready to go,” she said.

Those words were mirrored by teachers union president Belinda Wilson, who said: “We’re ready for industrial action.”

For the nurses, the issues include infrastructure, a lack of an industrial agreement and people left waiting for promotions.

For the teachers, a major bone of contention is salary. In the Budget, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis put forward plans for salary increases and retention bonuses for teachers – but that has been met with short shrift by union members.

Mrs Wilson spelled out the frustration yesterday, saying the government offer gave zero increase this year, a $58.33 a month raise next year and another $58.33 a month raise the year after that.

What does she want? Well, she wants an 8.3 percent increase in the first year – rather than zero – working out at about $2,100, or $175 a month. After that, it’s 5.5 percent in the second year, she says, about $1,400, or $116 a month, and the same again in the third year.

Some of those numbers look like they might not quite add up in terms of percentages – but the obvious thing is the gulf in size between what the government has included in the Budget and what the teachers are asking for.

Is that possible given the state of the economy? Well, Mrs Wilson said: “We are cognizant of the economic outlook, but we are also observing the government’s priorities such as an increased travel budget for 2020 to 2023 by $4.1m for parliamentarians.”

She noted the priority of spending money on trips to Dubai or on roads for the Royal visit.

Those are good points – the government can’t urge others to tighten belts while loosening its own.

That said, there really are economic issues. Look at today’s Tribune Business, where we discover there has been a plunge in foreign investment – and that’s even as our country begins to reopen after COVID.

Mr Davis has made much talk of the prospect of billions of dollars of investments – but the hard numbers are going the other way. Until some of those prospects are delivered, it’s all just talk.

So union unrest may be ahead – and there may be a determination to wring more from the government purse, but that purse may not be as full as some may think.

House Speaker

The previous House Speaker, Halson Moultrie, had a knack for making headlines and placing the spotlight on himself rather than on the House proceedings.

Is his successor taking the same path?

Speaker Patricia Deveaux was the focus of attention yesterday when she decided to take the director of the National Emergency Management Agency, Captain Stephen Russell, to task.

She was upset with his response to her calls for assistance after a tornado touched down in her Bamboo Town constituency on Wednesday.

According to her, when she spoke to Captain Russell, he directed her to the Ministry of Works. Unhappy with that response, she warned him she would speak on the matter at the next sitting of Parliament – and here we are.

Whether that was the appropriate course is a different matter – with the Speaker suggesting in the House that Captain Russell was at home “watching the game” rather than dealing with pleas for help.

For his part, Captain Russell did not comment, but directed The Tribune to a NEMA statement detailing the sequence of events.

So is the Speaker going to call out in Parliament anyone else she is unhappy with, even if they are not able to respond in Parliament on the record too?

Will there be any follow through that the Speaker will request, an investigation perhaps, or will she settle for calling people’s names and doing nothing more?

On a day when the Deputy Speaker also got a share of the spotlight by threatening to remove Opposition leader Michael Pintard during a debate, one wonders if the headline-grabbing approach of the former Speaker is lingering on.