Labour Commissioner, Cyrus Griffith, will begin conciliatory talks in the dispute between Government’s Negotiating Team (GNT) and the Grenada Technical and Allied Workers Union and the Public Workers Union, on Thursday, 17 October.
The conciliation talks come on the heels of the deadlock in negotiations declared by the GNT last week, given the wide disparity in proposals presented by either side for wage increases for public officers.
Pre-conciliation talks will be held separately with each side on Thursday, ahead of the first conciliatory meeting on Friday.
The Labour Commissioner has asked the disputing parties to provide their wage increase proposals and rationale, ahead of this week’s talks.
The unions are seeking a 25% increase in salary for public officers over the next contract cycle, 2020 to 2023 which is expected to increase government’s wage bill by $90 million. Government’s Negotiating Team is offering public officers increases amounting to $26.5 million, as part of an overall package that also includes pension restoration to qualifying officers.
GIS
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UNIONS are negotiating for the period, 2020 to 2022. There is no proposal on the table from unions that includes 2023. It is amazing that the GIS could be reporting a factual untruth, that unions are expecting a 25% increase to 2023. That is a blatant and bold faced lie deliberately fed to the GIS by the government. Unions proposals are for 2020 to 2022. There is no offer on the table from Unions to bargain for 2023.
There is no forseeable advantage for workers to encourage unions to do so
Look to the US for reliability of pension promises for public service people. They are underfunded dramatically and also unsustainable with foreseeable income streams. Labor costs aught to have a relationship to the economy in general. Any person with a skill and willingness to work should expect to be paid a wage that can sustain them decently without terrible hardship.