Several union heads were left disappointed after the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) rejected a bid for them to return to the bargaining table for wage negotiations on Monday.
Union heads representing five of the country’s trade unions, including the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), the Public Services Association (PSA) and Fire Service Association (FSA) met with officials at the Industrial Court in Port of Spain for their plights to be heard.
Industrial Court president Deborah Thomas-Felix presided over a three-hour case-management conference with the representatives and the CPO to agree on a series of dates for tribunal hearings, negotiated separately for each of the five unions.
During the case management conference the unions asked that the matters be taken to conciliation stage instead so that they can keep talking with the CPO, Dr Daryl Dindial, and a representative from the Ministry of Labour.
However, the attorney for the CPO Seenath Jairam SC, rejected the idea, as he said he had no such instructions.
As a result, the unions’ wage negotiation issue will now be heard by the court’s special tribunal beginning in January 2023.
In court were PSA President Leroy Baptiste, FSA President Leo Ramkissoon, Police Social and Welfare Division President Gideon Dickson, TTUTA President Martin Lum Kin and POA President Ceron Richards.
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