After several protests and public outcry against the two per cent wage increase offer to public servants, the government is now seeking to make an improved offer to representing unions.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Social and Welfare Association (TTPSSWA) yesterday met with Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) Dr Daryl Dindial at Alexandra Street, Port-of-Spain and its president Superintendent of Police (Ag) Gideon Dickson said they got good feedback.
“The CPO indicated the government notes the outright rejection of the two per cent offer and they are going back to the drawing board with a view of trying to improve that offer,” Dickson said.
Speaking with Guardian Media following the meeting Dickson said his association will meet again on Monday at 9.30 am to get a revised offer.
He described the meeting with the CPO as “professionally conducted”, during which both sides expressed their positions.
“At the end of the day, some consideration must be given to what we would have had to undergo over that period.”
Prior to the meeting, as they stood side by side, Dickson told the CPO his association was entering the talks in good faith.
Both parties met in the lobby of the CPO’s office shortly before 2:30 pm after the meeting, carded to start at 9.30 am, was pushed back at the request of the CPO.
In a brief statement, the TTPSSWA president said his membership must get the best result at the end of the process.
“On behalf of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Social and Welfare Association, we are pleased to be here at this time to engage in negotiations. We just want the membership to know that we are entering in good faith and the intention is to move the process along to bring the best benefit to all our officers, those who have served before and those who are serving presently.
Dickson had told Guardian Media on Thursday that his members had rejected the CPO’S two per cent offer for eight years (2014 to 2021) and were asking for 27 per cent over six years (2014 to 2019).
He said police have made it clear that they needed a better offer than the one on the table, which they labelled as “ridiculous.”
It also caused a stir among the larger trade union movement, leading to a protest on May 27.
The National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) led the march which started at Memorial Park in Port-of-Spain and ended at the Ministry of Finance Towers on Independence Square.
When the offer was made and unions called for a shutdown of the country, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley asked them not to overreact.
However, he indicated at that time that with the proposed two per cent increase, there would be an additional cost of $175 million in Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA), an estimated $1 billion in back pay and an increase in the state’s monthly wage bill of $411 million.
After the police meet with the CPO on Monday, the next group to meet with Dindial is the Fire Service Association.
That meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 15 at 10 am.
