NUGFW wins 9% increase for daily rated workers

Thousands of daily-rated workers from the Tobago House of Assembly, Central and Local Government, Port-of-Spain City Corporation and other workers represented by the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) will receive a nine per cent wage increase for the bargaining period 2008/2010. The workers will also receive a new Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) of $5.75 a day for 2008 and 2009 and $6.60 a day for 2010.

NUGFW president general James Lambert made the announcement at a press conference yesterday at the union’s Henry Street, Port-of-Spain office. He said the 2011/2013 negotiations will start shortly. “As you are aware, our negotiations started in 2008, and all the non-cost items had been agreed upon...as it relates to wages, all of us are aware that a five per cent cap was placed for all government agencies throughout Trinidad and Tobago,” Lambert said.

“We categorically rejected the five per cent and we decided that we will continue to negotiate on behalf of the daily rated workers because we felt that five per cent could not have been an acceptable offer by the chief personnel officer through the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.” He said a COLA of $4 a day was paid to workers in the last collective bargaining period of 2005/2007. He said when the unions consolidated, they realised the CPO was “playing games.”

He said they were not receiving the same rate but now, under the new agreement, there will be no differentiated COLA. The union also cut the ribbon to its refurbished conference room which was named after Lambert.