920 THA workers to get Xmas back pay

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, left, and Secretary of Finance Petal-Ann Roberts chat while viewing the national budget presentation in Tobago in 2024. - THA file photo

Nine hundred and twenty employees of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) are entitled to their back pay on, or before December 23.

This was confirmed by THA Secretary of Finance and the Economy Petal-Ann Roberts who, on December 11, said workers on the permanent list stand to benefit, and the payments should be made anytime between December 18 and 23. She gave no additional details in her WhatsApp response.

Public Services Association (PSA) industrial relations officer, Tobago region, Hayden Duke, also gave the assurance the THA employees would receive part of the advance of the $3.8 billion back pay.

“The persons who are permanent workers most definitely are entitled to the back pay, those who are civil servants, yes," he said to Newsday via phone on December 11.

A circular on December 10, signed by PSA president Felisha Thomas, confirmed the conditions agreed to by the PSA and the Chief Personnel Officer, including the date at which back pay will be made.

The conditions include a ten per cent wage increase, consolidation of COLA for two periods, 2014-2016 and 2017-2019, as well as back pay before the holidays.

The circular said the new salaries will be paid in January 2026. Allowances will take effect from January 1, 2014.

“Your sacrifice has not been in vain,” said Thomas. “Today, we are proud to announce that your resilience has delivered meaningful results and this latest development is a testament to the power of unity and solidarity.”

The PSA and the CPO formally signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) which listed the conditions of the agreement on December 2. The circular said the agreement will affect all officers in the civil service

Duke said in his capacity as the industrial relations officer, he said he was thrilled by the news.

“I am ecstatic. Having had gone through the experience over the last four years as industrial relations officer and seeing the plight of the membership – prior to even becoming an executive member, I too was a civil servant, so I would have endured the stresses that all the other public servants would have endured.”

He added: “When you see other persons salaries automatically jumping up by 47 per cent and all these kinds of things, and you're wondering to yourself why am I on 2013 salary in 2026. It makes you wonder if anybody really and truly cares. Now we’re in a situation where we would have been offered ten per cent as a measure of relief, I don’t know that it’s not something that I should not be happy about.”

He said while to date he has not met with the membership one on one, they continue to call individually.

“I can say my phone has always been called. What has been shared in all the WhatsApp groups is what decisions would have been made. What persons have said is that they are happy about this that we would have brought the negotiations to an end after having suffered for the last ten years and having something that was utterly disrespectful, which would have been the four per cent. So they’re quite happy to have some measure of relief, at the end of the day after having waited this long period of time to have some resolution.”

During the UNC’s election campaign, current Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar promised a ten per cent wage hike to PSA workers, after the PSA rejected a four per cent offer by the previous administration.