Negotiating teams representing the Police and Prison Services yesterday stormed out of their meeting with the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) Stephanie Lewis yesterday.
In a telephone interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, general secretary of the Prisons Officers Association, Gerard Gordon, said the CPO’s language yesterday was “vexatious to the spirit” and forced them to walk out one hour after their 2 pm meeting had begun.
The Prisons Officers Association met with the CPO at her St Vincent Street office, hours after Insp Anand Ramesar, president of the Police Social and Welfare Association, met with Lewis. Ramesar and his team also walked out of their meeting after the CPO refused to budge from her position.
“What she is saying is bordering on lunacy. When the officers do what they must, please do not call me. I will pull in my head like a morocoy (turtle) and wait for the dust to settle because this will not augur well for the country,” Gordon said. He called on the Government to intervene.
Ramesar too called on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to intervene in their wage negotiations. In a telephone interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Ramesar said a previous meeting with both Ministers of National Security and Finance was unsuccessful in settling their negotiations and now they had failed again with the CPO.
“I can say very clearly that the thread that keeps the stability in the police service is about to be broken...we will be meeting in a few days with our membership and I make it very clear that this situation is volatile and we call on the Prime Minister to intervene,” Ramesar said. He noted that the association maintained that its members should act within the ambit of the law.
Ramesar said the association’s representatives during yesterday’s meeting with Lewis were so upset that they stormed out after 45 minutes. He said that the association was informed that the rank of Assistant Superintendent in the Airports Authority was not being included in the market survey which is a “clear adverse position” for the officers. Ramesar and other members of the protective services including Fire and Prisons are requesting a 19 per cent wage increase using seven other institutions as their bargaining comparators for the past couple of years.
The combined average, they say, was a 24 per cent wage increase and the three associations are asking for 80 per cent of that. The removal of the rank of ASP in the Airports Authority is effectively reducing the combined average increase to 16.4 per cent with an offering of 60 per cent of that, which equates to a ten-per cent wage increase. Ramesar said the rank of an ASP in the Airports Authority earned $26,500 and without that comparator his membership would suffer.
“We are sticking to the market survey, with the ASP position, and nothing less. We will respond in a manner to persuade the CPO that the full market survey is the only way forward,” Ramesar said.
The Fire Service Association will meet with Lewis on Friday.