$1000 Per Month for Minister’s Phone Allowance is Back

Dean Flowers

According to the P.S.U. president, a thousand dollars as monthly allowance for telephone calls and services is exorbitant.  He says that a better financial plan could have been implemented for those expenses.

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“In this day and age, there is absolutely no reason why a thousand dollars in telephone allowance should have been reinstated for ministers.  I think, based on the fact that the prime minister himself is in the telephone industry, he should have used his wisdom and prudently instruct that allowance be reduced to a suitable package of unlimited calls and texts for ministers which of course would probably be, I don’t know, maybe one-tenth or two-tenths of what they are currently receiving.  So I think that portion could have been reconsidered and should have remained in place.  Also, I know our position as a union, we also were strongly against the entertainment allowance which is also being reinstated.  As we all know, whenever ministers, including a head of department who are the beneficiaries of such appointments, would entertain anybody.  That bill is normally, or most of the times, forwarded to the accounts section of those respective ministries for payments.  Clearly this is just an additional, a salary going to these people and so, those are two allowances that we believe ought not to have been reinstituted considering that we are not there yet.  And even if we were out of any form of austerity, we need to get serious about being prudent and stingy with the people’s money where these types of add-on benefits are concerned because really and truly, they do not, in any way, shape or form contribute to efficiency for management within the public service.”