The Public Services Association's (PSA) settlement of its outstanding negotiations with the Government on April 8 caught everyone offguard. For months, the union had strenuously and aggressively arguing it would not accept the five per cent offer for salary increases with lunch-hour marches through the streets of Port-of-Spain, threats to shut down the public service and colourful behaviour from the flamboyant PSA head Watson Duke. This was Duke's first collective agreement settlement since assuming office in 2009. The Government argued that in the middle of a sluggish global economy, from which the T&T economy, five per cent was all it could pay. PSA eventually settled, claiming it was able to secure other non-financial benefits for its members: housing, wider insurance coverage and job evaluation exercises.
So is collective bargaining merely about narrow wage increases or about broader non-financial benefits?
Do trade unions in T&T need to move with the times and focus on securing other benefits for members beyond making double-digit wage demands? These are the questions raised by Lennox London, an industrial relations and health and safety consultant. London is also a retired president of the Fire Services Association. In an interview with the Business Guardian on Monday, London argued that trade unions in T&T need to modernise their collective bargaining strategies and move away from the "percentage and back pay" syndrome which has characterised the movement for decades. When PSA settled, there was an uproar from some of the other unions-including the National Trade Union Centre and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union-that a five per cent settlement in a time of recession is unrealistic and a raw deal for workers.
London, who himself negotiated with the chief personnel officer when he was president of the Fire Services Association, and now does consultancy, said in modern collective bargaining and, especially in a period of a sluggish economy, unions have to be "creative" and imaginative. "The impact of the PSA's settlement with the Government in the middle of a bad economy shows that there is more to collective bargaining than just getting a percentage increase and a back pay," he said. London said the Government also has to be open and honest about the state of the economy so that negotiations will be done in a transparent way. "The Government has to be open about its economic performance with unions. In this way, both parties in the collective bargaining process will be aware of what they can afford," he said. Standing out in the PSA's settlement are offers of loans for repairs and purchases of new homes, broader insurance coverage and, for the first time in decades, a comprehensive job evaluation of all public sector positions. "Financial benefits are short-term, so unions need to be strategic and look at longer-term benefits, like retirement benefits, health insurance, benefits for members children who are at university and other benefits."
London said some of the benefits that PSA won in this settlement may not be attractive as they seem.
He said around 2005/2006, there was a plan for ten per cent of HDC houses to be allocated to the protective services, the Defence Force, and the T&T Police Service and Fire Services and, in a sense, there was always some sort of accommodation for employees that are paid by the Government.
"There's also a lack of details as to how these houses will be allocated and under what conditions. That's another reason why public servants are upset. They need to be provided with details." As for the insurance coverage, he said that premiums will rise and this will erode public servants' already small salaries.
PSA settlement impact on other negotiations
London believes that the PSA settlement will have an impact on private sector wage negotiations.
He argues that private companies operate on a different budgets and pointed to recent private sector settlements that have been settled on double digits. "Yara just settled with OWTU at something like 17 per cent. The size of the public service alone is much larger than any private company. Expect to see private sector companies continuing to settle in the double digits." Gerry Kangalee, education officer, National Workers' Union (NWU), told the Business Guardian that in recent times, the private sector unions have got much larger increases. "In terms of impact on the private sector, most private sector negotiations that have been settled have been in double digits, eg, Yara 17 per cent; First Citizens Bank at 17 per cent. There are others that settled at ten-15 per cent," he said.
Kangalee does not believe that PSA settlement will have an impact on other wage negotiations.
"It is a myth to say that PSA agreements are used as benchmark by the rest of the labour movement. That is not so. In fact, PSA wages have been manifestly inferior to other state agencies and state enterprises. Even in terms of conditions, like medical, savings and pensions plans, they are playing catch up and are still far behind." However, London said that the PSA settlement will impact on other public sector unions. "The Government will use this as a yardstick for the other unions that negotiate with the state. PSA is the biggest government union and then everyone sorts of feeds off what happens with them," he said.
London said the reason some trade unions and even members of the PSA feel "betrayed" by Duke's acceptance of the Government's offer was that they felt the president acted in a unilateral manner without consulting the union membership. "There is the perception that he 'sold out' because of the manner in which he accepted the offer. There was not enough communication with the membership," he said.
ECA on creative proposals
Keston Nancoo, chairman, Employers Consultative Association (ECA), called for creative approaches in the collective bargaining approach. He said trade unions must look beyond wage increases to other ways that they can benefit their members' lives. "We, at the ECA, want to see creative approaches used, which means more than 20 per cent and 30 per cent increases. There are other aspects in the agreements to look at. The focus should primarily be on benefits and improving the standard of living of the entire population, in terms of health, and education and so on."
Nancoo said there are differences between the public and private sectors and the PSA's settlement should not be looked solely as a benchmark for private sector negotiations. "The private sector companies have their own circumstances with regards to their ability to pay, the size of the organisation and other factors like that," he said. Nancoo said that "warfare" is not part of the ECA's vocabulary and urged the other public sector unions to exercise maturity in their negotiations. "It can't be a case of killing the goose that lays the golden egg. All parties must come to an agreement. After all we do want to see a productive T&T," he said.
Job evaluations
The PSA and the Government agreed to a job evaluation, the most indepth and extensive in decades.
Every single position in the public service will be evaluated and there will be job reclassifications.
This will be the PSA's next set of negotiations with the Government, apart from its negotiations for the next collective agreement. According to the agreement, the job evaluation exercises will begin in July 2011 and should be completed in one year. Some PSA members feel that if it is badly handled by the union, it could result in job losses and others being unfairly demoted. This exercise has to be handled properly if it is to be effect, London said. "Well, there should not be any job losses. What both sides should be looking at is retraining and redeployment of personnel. There are different functions and different pay levels in the public service and, at the end of this process, it is obvious that some positions will carry a higher salary," he said.