A final offer of a 14 per cent salary increase made by the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) will be discussed at tomorrow’s central committee meeting of police officers at the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB), Aranguez. If the offer is rejected then the matter can be headed to the Industrial Court.
Making the statement was secretary of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association Insp Michael Seales after a brief meeting yesterday with CPO Stephanie Lewis at her office, St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain.
At a previous sitting of the Joint Select Committee in Parliament, Independent Senator Dr Ralph Balgobin had said the plan for the March 23 day of total policing was hatched in the GEB’s conference room.
Balgobin also said it was linked to stalled salary negotiations.
All of the executive members of the association, except president Insp Anand Ramesar, were present at the meeting with CPO Stephanie Lewis which lasted some 20 minutes.
In giving his take Seales said: “We would have also had previous conversations with the CPO and she would have indicated that the offer on the table is her final offer which is the 14 per cent.
“The association has looked at it and is continuously considering it.”
He said the association was awaiting statistical data from the office of the police commissioner to make certain considerations.
On the feedback from the membership, given the fact that the matter has been dragging on for several months, Seales said there was a sense of panic by officers.
“There is panic by the membership in relation to Parliament being dissolved and the issue of what will happen when that occurs. Our understanding is that even though Parliament dissolves there will still be a de facto finance and national security minister so it doesn’t warrant the fear that they are experiencing,” he added.
However, he said Lewis was incapable of negotiating in a vacuum as some form of directive must be given to her.
“We have to be very careful in terms of what experiences have taught us. Any new government that comes in, there has been the trend that there is always nothing left in the treasury,” Seales said.
Another area of contention, he said, was the outcome of police negotiations would impact on salary talks of the Defence Force.
“The Defence Force cannot accept an offer until we accept an offer. We want to come to a close and we have tried our best to come to a close,” Seales said.
On whether the association would be persuading its membership to accept the offer Seales said that was not the role of the association.
“It is not our duty to persuade the members. That is a decision that will be polled on their behalf. The next step is the membership will guide us on that because the alternative is going to the Industrial Court. If there is refusal of the offer then ultimately the CPO must refer the matter to the Industrial Court,” Seales added.
Asked whether police officers would be engaging in another nationwide shutdown should they fail to accept the 14 per cent, Seales said that was not a consideration.
Pressed further so to whether there may be repeat of total policing Seales said: “I would not be able to say that because at the end of the day because the whole question of the day of total policing is still under investigation by the Joint Select Committee.
“They would make their determination whether it had to do with negotiations or not but we in the association are quite clear it had nothing to do with negotiations,” Seales maintained.
Postal workers step up protest
Customers can expect a disruption in the delivery of mail and other postal services as scores of postal workers also clamoured outside the CPO’s office yesterday, calling on Lewis to begin negotiations.
On Monday frustrated workers from various department gathered on the pavement outside the CPO’s office, saying they were fed up with stalled salary negotiations.
President of the Postal Workers’ Association David Forbes said negotiations for the period 2011, 2012 and 2013 have failed to begin and members were unprepared to work under such unjust conditions.
“What we are expecting is to get something in writing. We are hearing a number of things all over the place and the union is not satisfied with this and the workers are saying that this will continue until we get some concrete information regarding salary increases,” Forbes added.
He said despite the submission of proposals by the union the management of TTPost had not heeded to the union’s requests and had also failed to recognise that workers still received 1999 salaries with very minimum increases.
“The management must say to us, ‘Here what is happening. The CPO has given us guidelines in regard to the salaries,’” Forbes said.
He said members from several other departments were expected to join the protest in solidarity.
“We want to say to the public we are in a crisis with regards to negotiations. For five years members have been working with outdated salaries so we would hope that the public would understand our plight,” Forbes added.