SRC staff discuss their grievances with Minister Lalanne and SRC Management
June 10, 2019
This morning some 20 staff of the Customs Division met with the Minister for Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning, Maurice Loustau Lalanne, the Acting Commissioner General, Fred Morel, and other senior representatives of the Seychelles Revenue Commission, SRC, to discuss their grievances.
This comes after the staff have been protesting and have decided not to work until they are heard and their situation improves. The main issue of contention was the scheme of service, which they say has been an ongoing issue for years now. A staff representative, Ms Lisette Dupres noted that they have been told that their Scheme of Service has been revised and that it was supposed to be in effect since January, but they are still waiting.
The staff have written to President Danny Faure last month concerning their situation and they feel that they’re not being listened to.
Staff at the half-day meeting also spoke about other issues affecting their service delivery, work environment and safety,, such as the need for proper safety gears, equipment, working condition, communication problems and training amongst others. “We feel that now we have received a positive answer and we think that we will get a positive response from the Minister”, says Ms Dupres.
And on his part, Mr Fred Morel, the Acting Commissioner General explained that the scheme has been revised so that staff could benefit more, such as additional money, but pending approval from the Department of Public Administration, DPA. “We can now work closer with DPA to ensure how we can best get things to move faster”, says Mr Morel. He also stated that there is a need to improve on communication in SRC, to keep them abreast of any developments. SRC has about 340 staff, and about 300 staff will benefit from the Scheme. At the same time, Mr Morel, said that they have an open-door policy at SRC and encourages staff to come and discuss with them should they have any issues.
Minister Lalanne, noted the importance of the work that the staff are doing, and said that more should be done to improve the working condition of the staff. He said that at the end of the day, the meeting went well, where everyone had the chance to voice their views. “They are frontline staff, and due to the nature of their work, they do have a lot of problems, they are abused at times, and they feel that they are at risk; so we must look into this. There is certainly a lack of staff working shifts at the airport; especially now with the arrival of more planes at all times and this creates additional pressure on an already limited staff”, noted Minister Lalanne. Ambassador Lalanne said that at the end of the day, this has to be resolved, but one of the main constraints is the lack of communication.
Minister stated that after his visits to SRC last year, and after consultations with staff including the management, a budget of SR7 million for the revision of the scheme, applicable since the 1st of January this year. It was approved by the National Assembly.
Minister Lalanne requested till the end of July to come back with a feedback.