KAY-MARIE FLETCH­ER

Se­nior Re­porter

kay-marie.fletch­er@guardian.co.tt

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Na­tion­al Nurs­es’ As­so­ci­a­tion (TTNNA) has warned that nurs­es may take fur­ther ac­tion over out­stand­ing wage ar­rears and a pro­posed ten per cent wage in­crease, po­ten­tial­ly with­out warn­ing.

New­ly in­stalled TTNNA pres­i­dent Leti­tia Cox said nurs­es and mid­wives were ea­ger for ac­tion af­ter the Gov­ern­ment’s 2027 Bud­get did not specif­i­cal­ly ad­dress their con­cerns.

“Nurs­es are dis­ap­point­ed, an­gry and feel a sense of be­tray­al… Any fur­ther ac­tion by nurs­es may come with­out an­nounce­ment,” Cox told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day.

The warn­ing fol­lows pre­vi­ous as­sur­ances from Fi­nance Min­is­ter Dav­en­dranath Tan­coo that pro­vi­sion would be made in fis­cal 2027 for out­stand­ing wage set­tle­ments, once ne­go­ti­a­tions and cal­cu­la­tions were com­plet­ed.

Cox said health­care work­ers em­ployed by the Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ties (RHAs) had al­so ap­proached the TTNNA, ask­ing the as­so­ci­a­tion to raise their con­cerns. They, too, were still work­ing on 2013 salaries, she said.

“Nurs­es and mid­wives are ea­ger for ac­tion. Oth­er health­care work­ers in the RHAs have al­so reached out to the TTNNA and asked us to high­light their plight, as they are al­so work­ing on 2013 salaries,” Cox said.

The TTNNA con­firmed it will join oth­er trade unions in a march sched­uled for Oc­to­ber 30, while con­tin­u­ing ef­forts to con­tact Tan­coo.

“The march is now card­ed for Oc­to­ber 30, 2026, and the TTNNA will be stand­ing in sol­i­dar­i­ty with all trade unions as they high­light their con­cerns. The TTNNA will make ef­forts to reach out to the Min­is­ter of Fi­nance to avoid fur­ther con­tention,” Cox said.

Guardian Me­dia al­so con­tact­ed Tan­coo for com­ment but had re­ceived no re­sponse up to press time.