Ian MacDonald, CEO of Caribbean Development Company Limited and Carib Brewery Limited, said he considers the settlement of wage negotiations to be an important investment for the company, even in a time of economic downturn.
"It is no secret that the economy is difficult in T&T so it is important for us to forge partnerships with the trade union and work together to ensure the viability of our organisation and our employees are among those going forward," he said at the signing new collective agreements between the company and the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) at Carib's head office in Champs Fleurs yesterday.
Roughly 1,000 workers will benefit from the agreement which covers several bargaining periods from 2011 to 2019.
While he could not give the exact figure on how much the settlement would cost Carib, MacDonald said it was a significant. He said retroactive wages to the workers should be settled by the end of the month.
"It is a significant investment but it is an investment for the future," he said, adding that keeping employees happy and committed is of paramount importance to the company.
"There are challenging times but in partnership with our employees and the union going forward we have a united Carib family and we are all fighting for the same thing," Mac Donald said.
He said like the rest of country, the company is affected by higher taxes .
"Everyone's impacted, as people have less disposable income and it is a challenging environment today, so it is important to keep the fight out there and not on this compound. Our packaged goods market has been affected by the economy," he said.
As a result of the settlement between the company and the union, for the period 2013 to 2016, Carib will withdraw its appeal of a judgment awarded by the Industrial Court for a 16 per cent increase.
In addition, the company will honour the judgment given to the monthly paid bargaining unit for the period 2011 to 2015 for a 13 per cent increase.
The parties have bilaterally agreed to a 13 per cent increase for the weekly paid bargaining unit and the weekly and monthly paid bargaining units have settled at six per cent for the 2016 to 2019 period.