Workers raise pay concerns with council

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A GROUP of workers with the Lae urban local level government council turned up at the council office yesterday demanding their pay.
Lae MP John Rosso, who was “dragged” into the commotion, said everything came down to revenue.
“The council workers have not been paid in two fortnights; it is the responsibility of the council to do it. But as an elected leader, I came to help the lord mayor and councillors to resolve the issue and see how we can get our workers paid,” Rosso said. “The council needs to build its revenue collection. Revenue measures must be in place so that there are funds to pay workers.
“There should be priorities in paying people; the workers get paid first, utilities second and everything else later on when they have the money.”
Rosso said it was all about re-strategising how the council was spending its funds and collecting its revenue.
“It (council) has many ways to collect revenue, but there are many issues the council is facing right now, like they can’t meet their payroll on time and other employment problems.
“But we can’t blame the council or the management; we have to put aside all that.
“We have to fix the revenue issues, garbage collection issues, petty crimes, market, street lights and roads, there are a lot of issues but we cannot fix it when there is no money.”