Public Service Union and new Minister of Health Kevin Bernard to meet to address PSU concerns

Published by BBNTEAM at January 15, 2022

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Posted: Saturday, January 15, 2022. 4:35 pm CST.

By BBN Staff: Newly installed Minister of Health, Kevin Bernard, has confirmed that the Public Service Union (PSU) and his management team will be meeting to address some of the concerns of the PSU.

Minister Bernard said “The PSU President has written a letter to me seeking a meeting along with my management team to address some of their concerns.”

The Minister indicated that this coming week, he will be meeting with his CEO Julio Sabido and that his Ministry “will provide a further update (to the media) as to when that meeting will be had”.

The Ministry of Health and the PSU have been at odds over staff appointments, procurement procedures and general breach of the public service regulations in the Ministry of Health under successive administrations. In fact under the PUP, the issues have only grown greater with the PSU President, Dean Flowers, lashing out at the Ministry on various occasions.

In November the PSU condemned a decision taken by the then Minister of Health and Wellness Michel Chebat, to exercise greater financial control over the ministry, which the union says is an abuse of his power.

And on Channel 7’s SUN UP programme on November 23, 2021, the PSU President said that then CEO Deysi Mendez “lacked the skills and the leadership qualities to step forward as the accounting officer and address the difficulties that are going on in there”.

The Ministry of Health is one of the most important government ministry and one that is allocated a significant portion of the government’s recurrent budget. At the moment the Health Ministry is also waging a war against the COVID-19 pandemic and other looming health crises. Clearly settling matters with the PSU and establishing greater stability is a critical step for any individual that is put at the helm of the Health Ministry.

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