The Federation of Civil Service and Other Unions (FCSOU) will hold a peaceful demonstration in front of the Pay Research Bureau at the Bacha Building in Port Louis this Thursday at 12 noon. The union leaders of the federation are calling for the closure of this institution as they are disappointed with the recommendations of the 9th PRB report. A meeting between the cabinet secretary, Nayen Koomar Ballah, and the FCSOU leaders did not resolve the situation. The leaders of the federation are of the opinion that the government has not taken into consideration their wishes in that it is the abandonment of the Errors and Omissions report to make way for consultations with the public service unions with a view to drafting a final report. The president of the FCSOU felt that the signing of the Option Form to accept the recommendations of the PRB would be illegal as it is a draft report of the PRB that has been and will be corrected by the Errors and Omissions report thereafter. The FCSOU points out that there is anger among civil servants.
The State and Other Employee Federation (SOEF) held a press conference, to give details of the fallout from their meeting with the Chief of Staff, Nayen Koomar Ballah. The SOEF president said he told the cabinet secretary that the federation is calling for an overhaul of the institution. He deplored the fact that collective bargaining no longer exists in the civil service and this is in contradiction with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention on collective bargaining.
