Imbert: No negotiations with any union

PUBLIC sector trade unions won’t be able to meet any time soon with government around the bargaining table.

This was made clear on Wednesday in Parliament by Finance Minister Colm Imbert, who said government won’t entertain negotiations with unions because of the state of the economy.

He said there have been submissions but the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) has not been authorised to enter into any formal negotiation with some of the larger trade unions.

Imbert was responding to questions by Fyzabad MP Dr Lackram Bodoe during the Standing Finance Committee meeting on allocations for the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Public Administration and Digital Transformation.

Bodoe questioned Public Administration and Digital Transformation Minister Allyson West about the number of wage negotiations before the CPO.

Imbert explained that the CPO has a dual reporting responsibility. On the Personnel Department, he said, the CPO reports to the Minister of Public Administration but in matters of collective bargaining and wage agreements, the CPO reports to the Finance Minister.

Imbert said there were submissions but the CPO was not given any direction to engage the unions. Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally asked in what time period submissions were made.

“The way these things work is that the CPO is given a remit by the Finance Ministry, (for) which the ministry, under normal circumstances, gets an authorisation from Cabinet to make an offer with respect to salaries, wages, allowances.

“The status at this time is there have been submissions from the larger trade unions. There have been discussions, but the CPO has not yet been given a remit in terms of making a formal offer to some of these larger trade unions,” Imbert said.