Estate constables with the National Maintenance Training and Security Company Ltd (MTS) yesterday agreed to accept a ten per cent salary increase for the period 2010 to 2013.
The acceptance followed a mid-morning meeting at the savannah opposite MTS’s head office at Aranguez Plaza, where officials of the Estate Police Association (EPA), the union representing the workers, met with off-duty officers to decide on the way forward.
An impasse occurred on June 1, following a meeting with the company when the ten per cent offer was made.
President of the EPA, Steve Smart, confirmed acceptance of the offer by the handful of officers who attended yesterday’s meeting, adding that they had made a counterproposal seeking a six, two and two per cent breakdown of the payment for the period.
This varied from the company’s original offer of two, three and five per cent.
Smart said the EPA’s offer and counterproposal was submitted to the company shortly after the meeting, and that officials had “seriously been considering it.”
He expects to receive a definitive answer today, which will be relayed to the members.
During yesterday’s meeting, chairman of the Central Branch Board, Andrew Campbell said the breakdown offered by the company of the ten per cent would increase salaries to $15.93 per hour, up from $14.44 per hour.
The minimum wage was increased to $15 per hour on January 1, 2015.
Saying that small salaries would not attract people to the field, Campbell said the last time MTS officers received a salary increase was in 2009.
Vice president Totaram Samlalsingh claimed the security arm of MTS was bringing in the most revenue, yet these officers remained among the lowest paid workers in the industry. MTS provides a range of services including janitorial and security, to both public and private enterprises.
One upset worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “It’s like a dagger in my heart to know that men who are working 20 and 25 years, and somebody who is now out of training getting the same salary. That is unfair to us.”