Wickham: Agreement great for industrial relations

Government’s concession in recent wage talks has taken political scientist Peter Wickham by surprise. However, he is happy that the negotiating parties appear to have landed a “home run” in the deal.
“Both sides seem to be happy with the outcome, which I am a bit surprised about quite frankly because my sense is that government wanted to go in with little or no increases and the National Union of Public Workers wanted a bit more coming out of COVID. The unions wanted the maximum amount of flesh that they could get.
“However since both sides appear to be happy, this is a recipe for a good outcome. This is great for Barbados and for industrial relations and a home run for both sides of the equation,” he said.
Suggesting that the six per cent increase in salaries is fair especially in light of the rising cost of living, Wickham told Barbados TODAY on Wednesday that the Mia Mottley-led administration should be cautioned on the continued impact of inflation and the repercussions of the increase on the government’s already strained purse.
“I am happy with the outcome. I am comfortable that both sides have achieved this outcome, but government has to watch inflation and be very, very careful about this, especially as an increase that has budgetary implications could mean increases in taxation and so on and we are trying to watch this,” he said.
After months of negotiations, the two sides announced a settlement on Tuesday that will see public sector workers getting to a one-off payment of $1500 from which only National Insurance deductions will be made in order to maintain the pension entitlement along with a six per cent salary increase over the next two years and a 16 per cent hike in allowances up to 2025.
The NUPW originally went to the negotiating table asking for an 11 per cent increase, while government offered two per cent.
(JB)