- 1 day ago
The Chief Personnel Officer and the Public Services Association have reached an agreement of 10 percent for two bargaining periods.
It will cost the country over 3 billion dollars and recurrent expenditure of over 400 million dollars.
The announcement was made after the two parties concluded a marathon meeting on Thursday evening.
Alicia Boucher has more in this report.
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00:25the chief personal officer and the public services association have reached an agreement of ten
00:31percent for two bargaining periods it will cost the country over three billion dollars and recurrent
00:36expenditure of over 400 million dollars the announcement was made after the two parties
00:42concluded a marathon meeting last evening we have more in this report chief personal officer dr
00:49daryl dindial emerging from negotiations with the public services association following a meeting
00:54that began after 11 30 a.m on thursday and spanned more than nine hours yes i'm pleased to advise the
01:01public that an agreement has been reached with the cpu and the psa we do intend to meet again on monday
01:09to sign up the memorandum of understanding i'm going to take the opportunity to thank the psa president
01:14for expressing unknowledge about the state of the economy today was a difficult day of course there
01:20were very tense moments the cp would have at least four proposals that was met with three rounds of
01:28counter proposals from the association pertaining to collective bargaining periods 2014 to 2016 and 2017
01:37to 2019. dr dindial reveals that there was a push for 12 percent from head of the psa felicia thomas
01:44in the end the government stuck to its baseline offer which was promised to public servants before the
01:502025 general election by prime minister kamla posad besasa and which was stated by finance minister
01:56davindranath tanku in the 2025-2026 fiscal plan it's a 10 percent offer so it's spread
02:05one one one one one five ones and five percent so that's how it spread with polar consolidation for
02:11the botraniums so the net effect is really about 15 percent because when i consolidate polar the salary
02:18increases thomas calls the cola consolidation a big win for the public service statutory authorities
02:25and for the tobago house of assembly as she reveals a bit more what we have agreed to with the cpo today
02:33is the new salaries payable the month of january and across the board payment to public officers
02:44and as well as we are looking at the um payment in relation to the outstanding arrays on the medical plan as well
02:56the moa signing between both parties is carded for 10 a.m on december 1st following which it will go before cabinet to be ratified
03:04this settlement will cost taxpayers at least 3.8 billion and a recurrent expenditure of 420 million
03:15but will public servants have additional money in their pockets by christmas as promised by thomas
03:21the cpo's rule and remit is due to a settlement issues concerning what is available and what could
03:26could be afforded to public officers by december is really a function of the ministry of finance and
03:32what cash flow is available i know that the honorable minister of finance is very committed to seeing
03:38how best he can treat with some payment in the month of december but that's a process that they
03:44have to engage in but he has expressed that commitment to me thomas says her promise to public
03:49servants that he'll get their money for christmas stands in terms of if she believes that that time
03:54frame is practical here's what she has to say i will respond to that on monday but we are close we are
04:01closer to that and that is where the across the board payment comes in so once we sign on monday i
04:07would speak to that once we have the signed agreement in hand on monday chief personal officer dr daryl dindial
04:16is taking in stride prior remarks made by head of the psa felicia thomas that he was being obstructionist
04:22to the negotiating process she made a comments over a week ago questioning whether he had been given a
04:28mandate to block the back pay of public servants it came after he invited her to a meeting from him
04:34to give a presentation on the state of the economy to which she said she was aware of and that the cpo
04:40was acting as if they were only now commencing negotiations while following the end of negotiations
04:45yesterday dr dindial weighed in on thomas's comments in the heat of negotiations remarks come out
04:52um i i i know the psa president i would say fairly well over the last six years i deem to be a
04:58professional sometimes things are said in the heat of of negotiations that create issues and you accept
05:05those things for what they are i do not accept it as a personal attack where these things occur
05:10but dr dindial notes that such remarks can have negative ramifications as the money and property of
05:16people are involved we did have some discussions about those remarks and how it in how it sometimes
05:23influences public perception and so we are guided by those things and hopefully we we know that persons
05:30in responsible positions speak responsibly in the public domain because persons are listening on
05:36and will take those things as legitimate so i will say without any doubt that the cpo's office did not
05:42and has not obstructed this process it there was a procedure to be followed the chief personal
05:49officer dr daryl dindial still has one set of negotiations to complete for the bargaining periods
05:55that have now been concluded with the psa he spoke to this and other negotiations outside of that period
06:01last evening the only other entity that has not signed over the cpo for the 2014 to 16 and 2017 to 2019
06:10period is for the energy of w that's the only outstanding union so there is an expectation
06:17that sometime in the new year we will begin to have those discussions with them the cpo has no
06:23instructions to deal with them at this point in time but the state has an awareness that we'll have
06:27to deal with them very soon there are other negotiations that have to also we have to also treat
06:32with which is 2020 to 2022 period before the 2025 general election under the remit remit of former
06:40finance minister vishnu danpole the cpo settled negotiations for that period with the trinidad
06:45and tobago unified teachers association the tnt defense force and the amalgamated workers union
06:52whose notes are still to be ratified the honorable minister of finance did say in his budget statement
06:57that the government will honor those agreements so we we expect to have a very busy year to treat with
07:02energy of w for 2014 to 16 2017 to 19 and all other unions for 2020 to 2022 the minister in the ministry
07:13of public utilities says unions who were patient are now being rewarded that was the minister's response
07:20to a question from the media in the parliament today about the public services association having settled
07:26for 10 percent with a chief personnel officer we have seen that those unions who are willing to wait it
07:31out and waiting to fight it out as they fought against the pnm that those unions are not being rewarded
07:38and you cannot expect for those unions who basically felt that the workers deserve four percent that
07:45they now come to ask for more than what they felt that the membership deserve and the minister said of the
07:52unions who settled for four percent before the general election who are now seeking 10 percent now from
07:57the government that this would be fair sorry that this would not be fair to the psa it can be fair
08:04for psa to put the political and administration live on the line and get this reward now and others coming
08:10to say well i wanted to when you didn't fight you did not fight for it you didn't put up a battle against
08:16the pnm for it you did not do that the psa did that quite strongly
08:22and for that they said a political problem this is a political solution they were part of the solution
08:29and today they are part of the rewards
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