Government Meets with Joint Unions Negotiating Team

Cordel Hyde

Government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde, met with the Joint Unions Negotiating Team on Thursday; the first since they met back in January. The purpose of the meeting which was held at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel was to discuss a number of issues, including pension reform.  According to the President of the Public Service Union, Dean Flowers, all parties agreed that working committees need to be established to look closely at the issue of pension reform.

Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister

“We were supposed to meet some time ago but we couldn’t get our schedules down path, so we are finally going to meet.  We do meet from time to time, we do have ongoing issues, we do have pension reform, we do have a commitment to establish or re-establish a cost-savings committee and a revenue enhancement committee.  So this is what we do, we have to engage, we have to meet, we have to discuss.  We’re all leaders of the government, the public officers, the unions, ourselves as the government and so it’s about making sure that we meet and that we are on the same page.”

Dean Flowers

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“It was good to get back around the table and to hear from the government in terms of what are their plans as it relates to several of the issues that were discussed today, you know.  What came out of the meeting today was no position really.  What we agreed upon today is that there needs to be the establishment of working committees to look at this matter.  So public officers can breathe a sigh of relief that there is really nothing new to report other than that the issue of pension reform remains on the table and a road map will be designed.”