By Chantalé Fletcher
NEGOTIATIONS for collected agreements are not conducted in public.
This according to Minister of Finance Colm Imbert in answer to an Urgent Question by Opposition Senator Wade Mark in the Senate on Friday.
Mark asked Imbert to explain the Government’s rationale for the offer of 2% for an eighth-year period in wage negotiations with public servants by the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO).
Imbert said, “Senator Mark couldn’t be serious. I find it surprising that he would ask someone as experienced as I am a question like that, thinking that I would fall into error.
“I will not fall into the trap of making an injurious statement that could be used against the Government in court.”
Mark further enquired whether the Government had set aside a sum of monies to address these negotiations, however, Senate President Christine Kangaloo did not allow his question.
Recently, CPO Daryl Dindial met with several trade unions and associations to discuss wage and salary negotiations for members which commenced on March 28.
Dindial also met with members of the protective services including the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, Fire Service, Prisons Service and Defence Force.
In addition, meetings were also held with the National Trade Union Centre of Trinidad and Tobago (NATUC), the Public Servant Association ( PSA), Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TUTTA), unions that represented daily paid workers, and other unions.
