Government team stands ready to resume wages/salaries negotiations

Government, in the face of calls to speed up the salary negotiation process for public servants, says its negotiating team stands ready to resume negotiations.

Talks were adjourned during December 2022, with the agreement of all parties.

The negotiation process for the Public Sector was launched on October 18th last year, with delegates from the island’s trade unions and staff associations in attendance.

At that meeting, the broad parameters of the negotiation framework were discussed, including the global challenges faced by middle income countries in securing finances, along with the shocks that impacted Barbados at the national level, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the decline in the tourism market and the impact of the Soufriere volcano ash fall.

Acting Director General, Human Resources in the Ministry of the Public Service, Penelope Linton in a statement says all parties made a commitment to maintain the confidentiality of the negotiation exercise.

The first round of the salary negotiation process was completed on October 24th.

Workers’ representatives were invited to submit adjusted proposals that would take into consideration Government’s limitations on paying significant across-the-board salary increases, given its constrained fiscal space.

A second round of negotiations commenced on November 2nd.

A consensus was reached that the second round of the negotiation process would be paused for the month of December, given the exigencies communicated by the trade union/workers’ representatives.