The full effect of the Public Services Association settling with the Government for a five per cent wage increase for its members is yet to be played out. There have been fears that the PSA agreement to a single-digit wage increase will affect other trade unions which are in negotiations with the Government and the private sector companies. Joseph Remy, president of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (Fitun), said the Communication Workers Union (CWU) is currently negotiating with the management of the Telecommunications Services of T&T (TSTT) for the 2006-2007 period for its senior staff. Negotiations for TSTT junior staff were settled at 12 per cent in the Industrial Court last December.
Remy said that in no way would the PSA settlement impact on CWU's negotiations. "That incident with the PSA was a one-off case for public sector workers. We will not let that impact on our negotiations," he said.
Remy said the nature of collective bargaining in T&T is that each bargaining unit and sector bargains on its own merit without other settlements influencing the peculiarities of any other unit. From a national level, he said a five per cent settlement is unacceptable for the rest of the workforce. "Every day you see the cost of living going up and prices skyrocketing. The wages of workers cannot remain the same. If the country want to see a rise in productivity, then workers must be properly remunerated," he said. Despite this, he said, there are employers who are bargaining with unions who would want to use the PSA case to try to settle with their unions at lower rates. Remy adamantly said Fitun would take a stand against this. "We in Fitun have no intention of letting the PSA settlement be used as a benchmark. We urge employers to bring to the table the worth of their organisation and not outside influences," he said.
Michael Annisette, president of National Trade Union Centre, who spoke to the Guardian last week Tuesday from an international conference in China, entitled, International Forum on Economic Globalisation and Trade Unions, said he does not believe the PSA's negotiations would impact on private sector negotiations. "In all fairness, over the last few years, we have seen the private sector employers settle at double-digit figures between 12 per cent and 17 per cent. I think it is a realisation on the part of employers that workers' salaries have been eroded as a result of both core and headline inflation," he said. Annisette said those public and private sector unions that are in negotiations now cannot allow PSA's settlement to be the benchmark or else the national economy would be affected.
"If workers don't have proper wages and purchasing power, then the economy will be negatively impacted. It is workers who consume the biggest share of goods and services in an economy and, when they don't buy these, there is a negative spin-off effect," he said.
Annisette said there must be a correlation between the wages of workers and prices in the economy or else there would be a distortion and imbalance between what people earn and the prices of services they can afford. "The five per cent settled by the Government and PSA is an attempt to suppress wages. It does not address the economic realities and the prices in the economy. When workers give employers their labour, it is an investment they are making. They expect a return. A five per cent settlement is not a return on your investment," he said. Following are some of the major collective agreements in the public and private sectors which are still outstanding:
Oilfield Workers' Trade Union:
Petrotrin: 2008-2011 hourly/weekly paid
2009-2012 monthly paid
T&T Electricity Commission
(T&TEC): 2009-2011 hourly/weekly/monthly
Powergen: 2009-2011 monthly paid
University of the
West Indies (UWI): 2009-2011 monthly paid
2009-2011 daily paid
Trinidad Cement Ltd: 2009-2011 senior staff
National Petroleum
Marketing Company Ltd: 2008-2011 hourly/weekly
2008-2011 junior staff
2009-2011 senior staff
YARA: Settled at 17 per cent and profit sharing on January 28.
• T&TEC's agreement expires in December 2011. There has been no offer from management after 14 meetings.
• UWI monthly paid agreement expires in December 2011. Offer: three per cent.
• UWI daily paid two negotiating rounds outstanding. The present round expires in 2011.
Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU):
• Cariri's agreement expired December 2010. The matter is in court. There has been no offer.
• Cipriani Labour College. There has been no offer to the PSA.
• T&T Mortgage Finance Company (TTMF) collective agreement expires in June 2012. There has been no offer. The TTMF is waiting on the appointment of a new board.
Transport and Industrial Workers Union (TIWU): The collective agreement for the Public Transport Services Corporation (PTSC) National Maintenance Training and Security Company (MTS) will expire in June 2011. There is no board. There has been no offer. Gerry Kangalee, education officer, National Workers Union, said: "It is understood that the three daily paid unions: the National Union of Government and Federated Workers Union) NUGFW, Amalgamated Workers Union (AWU), Co-operative and General Workers Union (C&GWTU), are facing five per cent, as are Protective Service Unions and Postal Workers Union. The T&T Unified Teachers Association (T&TUTA) has said that the Chief Personnel Officer has discontinued the comparative market rate approach, so it has assumed that the union will be offered five per cent.