PM Skerrit: Over 50 junior clerks to be appointed into public service

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has announced that the government will appoint 53 junior clerks into the public service.

He made the announcement during a meeting with public service junior clerks at the Financial Centre on Thursday.

“Currently there are 53 vacant junior clerk positions…and I will give immediate instructions to the CPO to move to fill these 53 vacancies to allow many of you here to be appointed in the public service,” he said.

He explained that sometimes the reason why one is not appointed in a position, “and you may be there for some time”, is because there is no vacancy.

“Somebody may be on study leave; somebody might be acting in another position…,” Skerrit said, adding that there are all sorts of issues relating to that challenge within the public service.

“I am not saying this to give justification or to pacify your concern, because I am sharing your concerns,” he noted.

According to the prime minister, in 2009, the cabinet created 150 new positions for teachers and 100 positions for nurses, because there were nurses working and acting in a non-established capacity because there were no vacancies. He said positions were created so that persons could be appointed into those positions.

“We also created a number of positions within the public service, the administration of the public service, to create the opportunity for you to be permanently established.”

DPSU General Secretary, Thomas Letang has described the prime minister’s meeting with the junior clerks which was called on the same day that a DPSU “salary negotiation” rally was being held, as a political ploy. He advised public officers not to attend such future meetings with the prime minister “because the Prime Minister has absolutely no right to discuss conditions of employment with employees; the union is the only one so entitled.”