TTPost negotiations to continue in March

NEGOTIATIONS between TTPost and its recognised majority union Postal Workers' Union will continue on March 20 as both parties reject each other's salary increase offers for two bargaining periods.

TTPost rejected the union's counter-proposal on February 26 for a 15 per cent increase for the period 2014 to 2016 and nine per cent for 2017 to 2019 for bargaining units one and three, citing that it was not genuine.

“TTPost’s management asserts that this counter-offer does not represent a genuine proposal but rather appears to be another unfortunate and deliberate tactic aimed at advancing the personal agendas of the union’s executive to the detriment of the expectations of the employees,” a TTPost statement said.

Postal Workers' Union general secretary David Forbes said while TTPost is holding to its four per cent offer, two per cent for the first period and another two per cent for the second, the union was holding to its current counter-proposal.

Forbes said if the government could accept the recommendations of the 120th Salaries Review Commission (SRC) to give themselves and other high-level public servants a significant wage increase, they can accept even the 18.6 per cent increase recommended in a 2011 job evaluation for postal workers. Forbes argued their job evaluation used the same methodologies employed by the SRC to determine the increase and should be treated similarly.

"Why it is the government is not seriously looking at the job recommendation evaluation?"

He said from as far back as 1999 postal workers were found to be underpaid as a World Bank report recommended a 25 per cent increase.

He said the union has been taking the country and organisation's economic outlook into consideration during their proposals and counter-proposals, but more importantly, workers' situations.

"We would have figured in or looked at the reality of one, the economic situation of workers- having to work on the 2013 salary. We looked at the inflation rate throughout those years, we looked at the increase in gasoline and the increase in food prices and other commodities and the workers themselves who are working with 2007 allowances."

At the current salary rates, he said a newly hired mail delivery worker would make about $5,123.

"That's just to show you how unfair the system is in regards to workers. So these situations are real where workers are in dire need of their salaries be where it's supposed to be."

He said this salary needs to be closer to $7,000 per month and could be brought to that point if the job evaluation recommendations are accepted.