EDITORIAL- More to the ruling than back-pay

To be fair, the Golding administration has never outrightly repudiated its salary contract with public-sector employees.

Instead, it declared its inability to pay, then unilaterally placed the agreement into abeyance and froze salaries at their 2008-2009 levels. There was, however, no clarity about how this "outstanding" debt would be treated once the freeze was over.

Moreover, any insistence on clarity by public-sector unions was likely to have been met by Prime Minister Bruce Golding with derisively spirited comments, such as those he delivered at a speech at J. Wray and Nephew.

What Justice Roy Anderson's ruling on Tuesday has now resolved, unless overturned by a superior court, is the Government's inescapable obligation to pay, and any diversion from what is an enforceable contract has to be on the basis of negotiations.

But Justice Anderson's ruling was not only about the enforceable rights of the Island Special Constabulary Force, which sought the declaration, but a broader statement about the expected behaviour of the state in a liberal democracy. A substantial part of its legitimacy rests on the assurance of citizens that it will operate in accordance with the rules. Arrogance and unilateralism on the part of leaders undermine that creditability.

Said Justice Anderson: "... A government is not only a party to a contract; through its control of parliament, it is a lawmaker. In that capacity, it has an interest in ensuring that people respect and observe the law, and to do so, it must display respect for it own rules."

Fiscal crisis

The foregoing does not suggest a belief by this newspaper that the Government had, or has the money to pay, given the current fiscal crisis. Meeting the outstanding obligation to the entire public sector, the Government would have to tack on another $17 billion or so on the existing wage bill of $127 billion and lower the prospect of balancing the Budget over the next few fiscal years.

It would also undermine the effort to lower the public-sector wage bill from nearly 12 per cent of gross domestic product to the nine per cent, which is the target in the Government's agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

However, in countries of law, contracts mean something that ought not to be eroded by arbitrary state action. Hopefully, Mr Golding has learnt that lesson.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.