Five former employees of the Urban Development Commission (UDC) and the Rural Development Commission (RDC), who opted for voluntary separation packages when the two entities were amalgamated, say they are feeling disrespected after not receiving their separation packages.
The five, who collectively have given over 100 years’ service, expressed disappointment and frustration over what they charge is Government’s delay in honouring its monetary obligations to them.
Entities merged
On April 1, 2025, the two entities were merged to form the Rural & Urban Development Commission.
Speaking in the House of Assembly last February 12 about the merger, Senior Minister Dr William Duguid, who at the time was acting Prime Minister, noted that “all employees of the RDC and UDC would be given the option to transfer to the new commission under revised terms, and those who decline the offer would be provided with a voluntary separation package”.
However, six months after the separation process, the former employees said all they were given was vacation pay and have heard nothing further about the separation packages.
When contacted, Roy Morris, the Prime Minister’s Director of Citizen Engagement and Media Relations, told the Weekend Nation that the status of the five was still being considered but he stressed “nobody was severed”.
He explained that of the 56 employees, five opted not to go into the new organisation.
“The new commission, the Rural and Urban Development Commission, wrote their position to Cabinet and that is a matter that is still to be addressed by the Cabinet. So, the question of having been promised severance and still waiting for payment becomes questionable. I cannot find anything that suggests that they were offered severance, because they were not severed.”
However, a spokesperson for the five, who requested anonymity, said each of them met with a transition officer and also received communication from other senior officials about their option not to move forward with the new entity.
“We received a letter which said to give them ten days to give us further documentation and communication on the whole package. We had oneon- one individual meetings and that was when they started to tell us about the packages. We were given the breakdown of how it’s going to be done – they’re going to look at our years of service – and they
would pass the information over to Cabinet and the Ministry of Finance.
“They called it a voluntary separation package and they actually worked out our money there and then, and told us what we would get and that it would be topped up with what they called a good faith thing.”
Delay causes unease
She said they were further assured that the process would take about four months to complete. However, six months later, the former employees are getting uneasy.
“We are hearing after all these months that there was an administrative oversight in finalising our matter,” the former employee said, pointing out that they each had long service in Government of 28, 27, 25, 22 and 14 years.
The workers alleged that the amalgamation exercise was “rushed”.
“It was rushed because there was an IMF (International Monetary Fund) meeting where they said everything must be done by March 31, although we were not ready to do so. So we pretty much had two weeks of notice that this thing was happening, only two weeks.”
Stressing that they were given the option to transition into the new entity or to accept redundancy, another former employee stated: “Workers were assured that outstanding salaries and vacation pay would be settled immediately and redundancy payments would follow as prescribed under the Severance Payments Act. Yet, six months later, we are still waiting. The only pay given was our vacation pay.”
She added: “This raises a serious question: If the employer is the Government – and if the Government knew redundancy was a clear and foreseeable outcome – why has it taken more than half a year to pay five citizens what they are legally owed? Why hasn’t the required 25 per cent rebate claim been filed? And why must workers, who together dedicated over 100 years of public service, bear the burden of Government’s inefficiency?”
In addition, she said the five former employees “are the bearers of a letter which clearly states that once a new board was appointed for the new RUDC, further discussions would be held regarding the breakdown of how the voluntary separation agreements would be honoured. This letter also expressly requested that the five volunteers allow ten working days for the organisation to respond with the next step forward. Ten days have gone months ago and yet nothing further has been done nor organised”. (MB)
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