President of the Public Services Association (PSA) Watson Duke and First Vice President (FVP) Felisha Thomas, last week gave status updates on salary negotiations for twenty (20) bargaining units.

If you are a member of the PSA and you belong to one of the bargaining units, you can view the status of your salary negotiations here:

(Kindly note that five (5) added bargaining units are to be posted in a further update tomorrow. The first ten (10) bargaining units were previously posted (See previous posts).

The National Insurance Property Development Company Limited)

(NIPDEC):

– First Vice President Felisha Thomas indicated that management and the PSA, regarding NIPDEC’s negotiations, were agreeing upon percentages. She also said that the PSA disagreed with the proposal put forward by NIPDEC’s management, which was, “We are willing to give the increase, however, we are not willing to pay no retroactive on that.”

The PSA, represented by Ms. Thomas stated that, NIPDEC’s proposal was unacceptable and it was a position that no employer should bring forth to the PSA.

“We have asked the management of NIPDEC to go back, re-think their position and come back to the PSA. That position could only be the position of a thief and I don’t think the management of NIPDEC are thieves.”

Princess Elizabeth Home:

– FVP stated that the PSA is at the phase of building the Princess Elizabeth’s Home proposal for submission. This should be completed by the end of September 2021 and it will be submitted to management.

The Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC):

– FVP stated that the PSA is at the phase of completing the PTSC’s proposal for submission.

Queen’s Hall:

– FVP stated that the PSA is at the phase of completing the Queen’s Hall proposal for submission.

Trinidad & Tobago Blind Welfare Association:

– FVP stated that the PSA is at the phase of completing the Blind Welfare Association’s proposal for submission.

Ms. Thomas stated that the PSA has engaged in a collaborative approach in building proposals, where organizations can learn from each other. She indicated the PSA was working collectively with members at the organizations such as: The National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO), Princess Elizabeth Home, The Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC), Queen’s Hall and the Trinidad & Tobago Blind Welfare Association.

She stated that proposals will be submitted to management on behalf of the workers of the abovementioned organizations by September 2021.

“What we as the PSA have done is engage a process that allows organizations to learn from other organizations, so we basically, build these proposals in somewhat of a training environment so that when you build your proposal, when you are intimate with it, you understand why you are putting certain things in your collective agreement and you understand how to utilize it when representing your members. We have engaged in that process with NAMDEVCO, as well as a few others, to build their proposal to submit to management.”

Reporter: Melissa Goodman