PSA to re-file offence against NIB in the Industrial Court

PUBLIC Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke said a new application in its industrial relations offence against the National Insurance Board (NIB) will be filed at the Industrial Court on Wednesday to correct a flaw that led to it being dismissed on Tuesday.

In a message to the media, Duke said the application dismissed by the court was filed under the wrong section of the Industrial Relations Act.

He said he expected it to be re-done and put before the court under the right section of the Act.

Last week, the PSA filed the IR offence against the NIB over its failure to honour the terms of a collective agreement signed in 2020, after the board failed to make payments to workers.

The PSA wants the NIB to abide by the terms of the agreement signed on October 26, last year, for the period 2014-2016. The agreement gave workers a total salary increase of nine per cent.

It also required the NIB to make retroactive payments to workers, increases in paternity leave, car and repair loans, travel allowances and a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase.

Speaking in Parliament last week, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the ministry was seeking advice on the issue as the consequences of the agreement was far-reaching and complicated.

He said the collective agreement was not authorised by the Human Resource Advisory Committee of Cabinet which monitors wage and salary negotiations.

Imbert had said, “I can say off the bat, if that agreement, the wage increase that was contemplated by that agreement, was implemented in the public sector, it would cost $7 billion." He explained, "This is why I am seeking advice at this point in time and that is all I can say at this point in time.

"The investigations of the Ministry of Finance so far, have indicated, as far as we have been told, that the management of the NIB did not inform the board of the ministerial directive of March 25, 2011." He added that an investigation is ongoing and the NIB will provide him with a report in due course.

On Monday, NIB staff protested outside its head office at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain.