Regional Health Authority (RHA) workers will be getting $500 million in arrears owed by the Government within a “day or two,” Finance Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday.
He confirmed that in the Senate while replying to Opposition questions on what steps would be taken to address the issue of money owed to health workers.
A large number of workers demonstrated outside the Parliament last week, demanding back pay owed from completion of negotiations for a new collective agreement in 2015.
The former PP government had promised to pay it but was defeated at the polls and the PNM Government had projected payment by month-end. However, workers had threatened a work-to-rule last week and further action this week if they were not paid.
But yesterday, Imbert said he had asked ministries’ accounting units to do calculations of how much was owed to workers in the various ministries and Health’s calculations were completed for all RHA workers entitled to get back pay.
He said audits of the Health calculations were also done and documents were sent to Finance concerning the 50 per cent of arrears owed to health workers.
Imbert said Government expected to get proceeds of a $2 billion bond raised locally by today so workers could be paid immediately after, “which should be within a day or two.” He said the amount involved for health workers’ arrears was $500 million.
On Opposition questions regarding completion of the Point Fortin Highway after OAS Constructora is terminated from the project, Works Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said Nidco would ensure it was completed and was doing a determination of the remaining works to be completed.
He said that would be divided into smaller projects, to be handled by open tender process, for local contractors and they would continue it.
Hinds said the work would be done in two phases, one involving three contracts for 12 months and a second involving two longer-term contracts to come in 30 months.
He said a notice of termination to OAS was issued recently and once termination processes were completed, Nidco would go to tender.