Social Workers “Frustrated”
In a press statement, which was signed by the staff of the Department of Social Services, workers spoke about their frustrations with the minister.
“Firstly, she categorised the worker programmers as welfare recipients rather than employees, devaluing them and their contributions. To suggest that work programmers are anything other than employees is insulting and demoralising,” the statement said.
“Mrs. Butler-Turner further compounded the situation by suggesting that these employees conspired to insinuate themselves into the public service. The sad reality is, the majority of work programmers are single mothers with dependent children that they must provide for, so they remain on the programme despite the low salary ($210 per week) to feed their children. The irony is, one would think that they would find a sympathetic ear at Social Services, but rather than help, the department exploits their vulnerable position and then blames them for the abuse.”
Behind the workers is Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) President John Pinder, who said he understands their frustrations.
“The staff at Social Services takes exception to the manner in which Minister Butler-Turner referred to them as recipients of the programme and want to suggest that they are not employees of the Department of Social Services,” he said.
“If I exchange my hours for a salary or wages that makes me an employee of yours. And even though there are no long-term contracts, none of these persons are on short-term contracts either. So it certainly brings more clarity in that these people are being exploited by the Department of Social Services.”
Last week, scores of workers at the department hit the pavement in front of the Clarence A. Bain building on Thompson Boulevard to voice their concerns about temporary employees being overworked, wages and security concerns.
In an interview with the Bahama Journal over the weekend, Mr. Pinder said that he felt that many of the issues were being addressed.
For example, he said that over 90 of the temporary workers have already been recommended to become permanent.
However, yesterday, Mr. Pinder said some of the workers are so insulted by Minister Butler-Turner’s remarks that he could not promise that there would not be any industrial action.
“I am hoping that the department, ministry, government and those who have the power to deal with the way these people are being mishandled will do it in a timely manner. I believe that once the staff is satisfied that the issues are being addressed and that there are no more promises made and we can have some kind of concrete, written agreement in place to satisfy the staffers and these programme workers, I think that will cause actions to go away. But I think until such time, anything is liable to happen.
“But I think that sometimes that the staffers become so frustrated that they are not fit to work. We try to encourage them as best we can to hang in there.”
Mr. Pinder said at the end of the day, he feels that the government is doing the best it can to deal with the situation.
“I honestly feel that as a result of the demonstration and meetings that we had with the minister in Grand Bahama and New Providence that it is giving it some serious attention now,” the BPSU president said.
“We would like to get a definite date as to when certain things would happen. We are trying to be proactive so that the government would make some provisions in this upcoming fiscal budget to actually make financing available for these persons, who have been recommended to become permanently established.”
The Journal attempted to contact Minister Butler-Turner, but she could not be reached up to press time.
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