CARISA LEE
Reporter
President General of the Contractors and General Workers Trade Union (CGWTU), Ermine De Bique-Meade, hopes if the other unions now getting the opportunity to return to the drawing board with Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) Commander Dr Daryl Dindial are granted a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), that her members will receive it as well.
The CGWTU represents San Fernando City Corporation (SFCC) workers.
“What we would have liked, if they are introducing COLA, that we get COLA,” De Bique-Meade said, “but we would have asked the CPO for a side letter indicating if any other union that represents the same type of workers get anything superior that we would get it and the CPO told us no.”
On Monday during the Budget, Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo announced that members of the Teaching Service, the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, and the Port-of-Spain and San Fernando City Corporations that the Government will ratify the Collective Agreements signed in April 2025 between the Chief Personnel Officer and their respective associations, unions, and committees.
Minister Tancoo said the recurrent cost of implementing these agreements is estimated at $214 million annually, with arrears of $730 million as of December 2025.
He said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has instructed him to advise the CPO to submit a revised offer of 10 per cent for the Civil Service, Statutory Authorities and Tobago House of Assembly for the periods 2014-2016 and 2017-2019.
In April, ahead of the General Election, the CGWTU signed a 4 per cent agreement for the periods 2014-2016 and 2017-2019.
“Those unions have to go back to the table. And if they go back to the table and they are now able to negotiate COLA, our members for the period 2014-2016 and 2017-2019 who are not getting COLA will be at a disadvantage,” she explained.
De Bique-Meade said some members have already called to ask if they will be getting the 10 per cent but she said the union stands by her Labour Day sentiments of no regrets as she awaits further consultations with the CPO.
“So, we will give them the rest of this week and by next week we will now be liaising with the CPO to find out if there are any additions to what we would have signed for,” the CGWTU president said.
Guardian Media also sent questions to the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), which accepted a five per cent offer for the period 2020-2023; the Defence Force, which accepted a four per cent increase for the periods 2014-2016 and 2017-2019; and the Amalgamated Workers Union, which accepted a five per cent offer for 2020-2023.
However, at the time of the publishing of this article, none of those entities had responded.