Minister of Public Utilities Barry Padarath. Photo: T&T Parliament
‘What this Government has achieved is not merely a financial settlement, it is a restoration of dignity and fairness to approximately 3,000 workers who were sidelined for an entire decade’ – Minister of Public Utilities Barry Padarath
By Sue-Ann Wayow
PUBLIC Utilities Minister Barry Padarath is boasting that the United National Congress (UNC) has delivered on a $131 million settlement to resolve a long outstanding cost of living allowance (COLA) issue affecting approximately 3,000 workers.
The Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) workers being represented by the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) will now stand to benefit from the agreement signed between the ministry and the OWTU in the wee hours of November 13, Padarath disclosed in Parliament on Friday.
He made a statement to the House of Representatives describing the Memorandum of Agreement as “historic” and the first tranche of retroactive payments would have been deposited into workers’ bank accounts on November 18 after “nearly a decade due to the chronic inaction and neglect of the former PNM administration.”
“What this government has achieved is not merely a financial settlement, it is a restoration of dignity and fairness to approximately 3000 workers who were sidelined for an entire decade,” Padarath said.
Padarath in providing background to the issue, said COLA payments to workers were frozen since December 31, 2015 and the workers were left receiving an outdated COLA amount of $1,720.86, while the cost of living, food prices, utilities, transportation, and every household necessity continued to rise.
He said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar directed his ministry to deal with the outstanding matter urgently.
Padarath said the OWTU wrote to T&TEC on September 17, demanding the settlement of the COLA issue and government has acted.
He said together with Minister in the Ministry Clyde Elder, they initiated and sustained intensive discussions with both the Commission and the union.
“Through professional, transparent, and respectful engagement, we were able to do in a few weeks what the PNM failed to do in ten years,” Padarath declared.
The agreement signed at 2 am on November 13 provides:
1. Relief for Weekly-Paid Workers
● A new COLA of $5.75 per hour, raising the total COLA to $15.64 per hour,
● Effective November 20, 2025, payable from December 4, 2025.
2. Relief for Monthly-Paid Workers
● A new COLA of $1,000.50, raising the total COLA to $2,721.36,
● Effective December 1, 2025, payable from December 17, 2025.
3. Retroactive Payments
● Retroactive COLA payments totalling $131,125,076.23, to be disbursed in four tranches between November 2025 and February 2026.
Padarath said, “The MoA also includes safeguards to ensure financial responsibility, including monthly cash flow reviews prior to each payment—another practice ignored by the previous government, which consistently failed to enforce proper financial oversight of State enterprises.”
He also said the former administration allowed the estate police officers’ COLA matters to languish as well and government will treat with the Estate Police Association (EPA) promptly, with the same transparency and urgency.
