Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago
The Finance Minister is describing as alarmist, any suggestion by the Opposition UNC that a stalemate in salary negotiation at the University of the West Indies St Augustine Campus would lead to a total collapse there.

This, as the Finance Minister said the proposal by WIGUT, the representing union, would result in hundreds of millions in backpay that would have to be funded by taxpayers.

Juhel Browne reports.
Transcript
00:00One day after the protests at the University of the West Indies campus in
00:04Trinidad, an urgent question was posed in the House of Representatives by Cuba
00:09South MP Rujunathan Darsing. Question to the Minister of Education. Will the
00:14Minister inform this House of the urgent measures which have been pursued by the
00:21government to avoid a complete shutdown of the University of the West Indies
00:26St. Augustine campus given the rejection of the government's 2% for the
00:32collective bargaining period 2015 to 2017 by the West Indian West Indies
00:39group of university teachers. Finance Minister Colm Imbert rose to respond to
00:45the opposition MPs question. First let me correct the statement in the question
00:51which sort of implied insinuated or said outright that there will be a total
00:57collapse of the St. Augustine campus. I don't think so. I think that is just an
01:03alarmist wording from the member for Cuba South. The Finance Minister spoke
01:08about what he said had occurred during the UNC-led People's Partnership
01:11Administration. Over the period August 2011 to July 2014, the then Ministerial Committee
01:18under the previous administration approved a 10% adjustment in
01:24compensation for academic and senior staff at the University of the West
01:29Indies represented by the West Indies group of university teachers WGAT. The
01:33Finance Minister said the government has offered the same 4% extended to the
01:37public service and the protective services. I am advised that WGAT refused
01:41to consider the last period 2017 to 2020 and has not accepted the offer for the
01:49period 2014 to 2017. I am told that the WGAT is asking for the following. With
01:57effect from July 2014 8%, with effect from July 2015 another 8% and with
02:05effect from 2016 another 8% a total of 24% for the period 2014 to 2017. Minister
02:14Inbridge said the Union's proposal would cost an estimated additional 78 million
02:19dollars per annum for the UWE St. Augustine campus. MP Andarasinghe said the
02:23negotiations at UWE's campuses in Jamaica and Barbados have been concluded. The
02:28Finance Minister indicated there's a difference where Trinidad and Tobago is
02:32concerned. If we were to accept the proposal from WGAT the back pay would be
02:37701 million dollars as at March 2024. The cost of the 4% offer which we have
02:47offered to everybody else and which has been accepted by most trade unions is
02:53estimated at back pay of 79 million and 12 million in additional recurrent
03:00expenditure and it is no secret the member can pretend otherwise that UWI is
03:05funded by the state with hundreds of millions of dollars in subventions. The
03:10Finance Minister said any settlement of wages at UWE will place the
03:14responsibility on the government and taxpayers to fund the increase.
03:18Jewel Brown TV6 News
Be the first to comment
Add your comment