THE national government’s lack of good faith in the on-again-off-again negotiations with the striking doctors is completely wrongheaded. The principle should be if one makes a deal one sticks to it, otherwise letting the doctors down so brazenly and so often means no one else will want to enter negotiations with government expecting a good faith outcome. That this should happen less than eight months to the general election should worry the political class in its entirety. The government’s position that the implementation of the doctors’ CBA would open the floodgates of other pay rise demands does not look reasonable, taken against the State’s failure to stick to signed and sealed deals. And then there is the issue of imbalances everywhere, including the fact that an MCA earns twice what some doctors earn.

Source: The Star January 26, 2017 01:09 UTC