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 ten (10) added bargaining units are to be posted in further updates. The first five (5) bargaining units were posted yesterday. (See previous post)

Metal Industrial Company Limited (MIC):

– FVP indicated that though negotiations have not yet commenced, MIC’s management was in the process of costing the submitted proposal. She stated that the PSA undertook an extensive process with the MIC PSA committee and MIC PSA members, where excellent feedback by members was given and added to the proposal. FVP Thomas stated that negotiations were expected to begin soon.  

National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS):

– The First Vice President described this negotiation as an exciting one, as it’s the first negotiation PSA will be having for NALIS since the Association got recognition for NALIS workers. She stated that the first meeting was held on February 20, 2021, where discussions with the Board were had regarding directives to proceed with said negotiations.

She indicated that given the timelines the PSA was given, discussions should have been had in June. However, she stated that due to the Covid-19 preventative measures, NALIS was closed. She indicated that with its reopening, the PSA has engaged for dates to be rescheduled. She also stated that the process of negotiations are expected to start soon.

The National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO):

– FVP stated that the PSA are at the phase of building NAMDEVCO’s proposal for submission.

“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.”

National Insurance Board (NIB):

FVP indicated that the NIB negotiations would have been settled, signed off and agreed between management and the Association. She stated that although the agreement has been registered in the Industrial Court, higher authorities have failed to pay NIB workers what was agreed.

She stated that the matter was now before the Industrial Court and the hearing was expected in August. However, she said that NIB’s consultant asked the court for an extension of time.

She did indicate that this did not stop the PSA from putting together proposals and moving forward with further negotiations.

“We are awaiting the outcome of that negotiation, that still does not stop the PSA. We are moving forward, with putting together our proposals for the next period, so that will be on the table soon for the NIB workers, even in the event of this matter being before the Industrial Court.”

The National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST):

According to First Vice President, Felisha Thomas, Niherst is “playing games” with their employees. She stated that the PSA submitted a proposal and would have made contact with management. She said that management would have then requested soft copies of the proposal to assist them with costing and reviewing, in order to engage in further discussions.

However she said, upon NIHERST’s last meeting with the PSA, their management indicated that no proposal from the PSA was received. Second Vice President, Avinash Maharajh, through proof of email communication, was able to counteract NIHERST’s claims. The PSA have further engaged management and NIHERST is now in the process of setting up and arranging dates for negotiations to begin.

Reporter: Melissa Goodman