Talks between the Police Service Social and Welfare Association and the Chief Personnel Officer reached a stalemate yesterday, with the association describing meetings with the CPO as a waste of time. Association secretary Insp Michael Seales said the CPO yesterday made it clear her offer from last Tuesday was not going to change. The body wants a 19 per cent increase and is using wages packages for seven other institutions as its bargaining comparators.
Apart from the Police Service, the Fire and Prisons Services are also demanding a similar wage increase. The combined average, they say, is a 24 per cent wage increase and the three associations are asking for at least 80 per cent of that. But Seales said the Government has removed the Airports Authority from the comparative institutions being used, effectively reducing the combined average increase to 16.4 per cent, and is offering 60 per cent of that, which equates to a 10 per cent wage increase.
“We can say off the bat that we will not be going back to meet with the CPO because it is a waste of time, as she had nothing new to offer us,” Seales said. Seales said the association was initially hopeful that comments made by Finance Minister Larry Howai in Parliament last Friday would have helped resolve the matter. Howai had said that new stipulations had been given to the CPO from the Government which would help the negotiations move forward.
But any hope of a resolution was dashed yesterday, Seales said, when the association was contacted by an official from CPO’s office. “We were told in no uncertain terms that no new offer would be put on the table. We paid a lot of attention to what the Finance Minister had said in Parliament, but the disclosure made by the CPO does not mirror that. There seems to be a disconnect between the CPO and the Finance Minister,” he added.
comparative salaries
According to a 2011 market survey conducted by the welfare body, the maximum average salary of an inspector of operations at the Airports Authority was $16,252, while that of a police inspector was $13,570. An estate sergeant of operations at the AATT earned an average maximum of $12,204 while a police sergeant was $9,228. The average maximum salary of an estate corporal at the AATT was $10,032 while a police corporal earned $7,776.
The market survey also showed that the maximum average salary for a T&TEC inspector is $15,321, a sergeant $12,728 a corporal $11, 844 and a constable $11,038. A manager for physical security at TSTT meanwhile earns an average of $19,029, an estate sergeant $16,884, an estate corporal $12, 665 and estate constable an average $11,268. A sergeant at Petrotrin earns an average of $14,881, a corporal $13,675 and a constable got an average of $12,715.
The market survey also showed an estate police sergeant at UWI collected an average $11,049, an estate corporal $9,508 and an estate constable $8,442. These figures were presented during talks held between the association and the Chief Personnel Officer. In a letter dated January 19, the association said the comparator organisations included:
1. Telecommunications Services of T&T
2. T&T Electricity Commission (T&TEC)
3. Petroleum Company of T&T Limited (Petrotrin)
4. Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation Ltd
5. Trinidad Cement Ltd
6. Airports Authority
7. University of the West Indies