Senior Reporter
andrea.perez-sobers
@guardian.co.tt
The current Port Authority of T&T (PATT) board’s hands are tied when it comes to a 12 per cent increase for port workers, one of the situations that led to strike action last week.
Speaking to the Guardian Media yesterday, Port Authority chairman Lyle Alexander said the board that is sitting now was not involved in that process and had inherited it from the previous board.
Alexander, who has been serving since 2018 as chairman, said before his board came into office, there was a discussion between the previous board and the Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Union (SWWTU), and there was an agreement that included the development of some new working practices and some discussion around the settlement of a 12 per cent wage hike.
“As far as I am aware, it was agreed to and forwarded for the approval of the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO), or it was approved subject to the approval of the CPO. To date, there has been no approval for that particular figure and everything else is public knowledge,” he explained.
Alexander noted that what has been described by SWWTU president general Michael Annisette is in fact what the facts are.
Asked how the matter was handled, the chairman said, “You can’t not give credit to the employees and the union as well for the way we have been treating this matter. I certainly appreciate that level of maturity in dealing with our issues and, of course, we are human and from time to time the frustration will rear its head and that’s what I think happened last week.”
Guardian Media was advised that the Human Resource Advisory Committee (HRAC), which is a sub-committee of the Cabinet with the responsibility for monitoring wage and salary negotiations in the public sector, was the body in charge of the process.
However, contacted on the issue, HRAC committee member, Minister of Public Administration Allyson West, said the best person to get an update about the increase from was the CPO. West did not confirm whether the matter was before the sub-committee.
In explaining how the process works generally, though, she said a decision comes from the committee but goes back to the CPO, who is secretary to the committee, for action.
Guardian Media reached out to the CPO’s Office yesterday but was told no comment was forthcoming at this time.
Last week, over 1,000 workers took strike at the Port of Port-of-Spain due, in part, to what Annisette said was the board’s decision to renege on the 12 per cent salary increase and health and safety issues. He said while they signed off on a 12 per cent increase with the management, the Government was now refusing it.
Public Private Partnership update
Meanwhile, on the issue of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) plan for the Port Authority, board chairman Alexander said the authority is now in the process of structuring the Request for Proposals (RFP).
“I am optimistic that it will be out, it is always ticklish to put a date on that. But it will be out before the end of 2024. Before the last quarter of 2024,” he said.
Last year in an interview with the Business Guardian, Alexander said the PPP restructuring process was launched in October 2022 and is being done in collaboration with the Government’s advisor, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
“An agreement has been signed between the Government and IDB to take the project forward and the next thing that has to be announced is the consultant that would be working for the IDB to help us build the Request for Proposals (RFP),” the chairman revealed then.
He could not say how long the delays about the RFP will take, as this is being handled by the IDB.
Alexander noted that all the analyses have indicated that the project potentially is a US$200 million investment over some time.
