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Contact:
Rose Marie Harris
Wednesday, October 05, 2005 – Chairman of the Government Negotiating Team
(GNT) Mr. Victor Poyotte has expressed concern that six of the nine Unions and
Associations representing government employees are yet to submit new proposals
for consideration. Mr. Poyotte made these observations following a preliminary
meeting with the workers representatives on September 26th 2005. He noted
further that of the three groups submitting proposals none quantified their wage
and salary requests.
The September 26th meeting was set to review proposals submitted for the new
round of negotiations covering the triennium April 2004 to March 2005, April
2005 to March 2006 and April 2006 to March 2007. At that meeting the unions and
associations agreed to submit their outstanding proposals by October 7th, 2005,
for a general wage and salary increase for both the established and non
established workers.
The GNT stated that the deadline date is necessary to facilitate costing of the
various aspects of the proposals and to avoid any delays in the start of
discussions.
When discussions on the new round of negotiations begin the parties will discuss
general wage and salary increase for the next triennium. The Government
Negotiating Team will hold separate discussion with each Union/Association on
non financial matters relating to terms and conditions of service.
Formal negotiations between the Unions and Associations and the Government
Negotiating Team commenced on September 28th 2005. At that first meeting the GNT
met with the Saint Lucia Teachers’ Union.
Other meetings set for October are as follows:
Wednesday 5th October Civil Service Association
Wednesday 12th October National Workers Union
Wednesday 18th October Nurses Association
Wednesday 18th October Fire Service Association
Thursday 19th October Police Welfare Association
Thursday 19th October Prisons Service Association
In September the Cabinet of Ministers appointed a new Government Negotiating
Team for negotiations on Working Conditions for the 2004/2005 and 2006/2007
triennium.
Chaired by a Management Consultant and former Secretary to Cabinet in Saint
Lucia Victor Poyotte other members of the team are Mr. Henry Phillips Human
Resources Management Consultant, Mr. Ivor Daniel of the Ministry of Finance and
Mr. Mark Louis Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour Relations, Public
Service and Cooperatives.
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