By Tahna Weston
The Antigua and Barbuda Public Service Association (ABPSA) has held discussions with the government’s negotiating team and those talks have been described as amicable.
Yesterday, the ABPSA’s six-member negotiating team sought to reach an agreement in relation to an unsigned collective bargaining agreement for established workers.
Joan Peters, president of the ABPSA, the workers’ bargaining agent, told Observer that a few of the contentious issues have been resolved.
During an earlier interview, Peters disclosed that it has been six years since the collective bargaining agreement was presented to the Establishment Department on behalf of all established public servants, but it had not been signed.
She said that there were some clauses in the agreement with which the government had issue, including an increase in risk, duty, and travelling allowances.
While there has been some consensus with the government negotiating team which consisted of officials from the Labour Department, Establishment Department and the Ministry of Finance, Peters declined to disclose what has been agreed to.
“We got a few things resolved, but until we get them in writing we’re not going to speak to it. I will speak to the situation but we were able to reach to a certain level of solving certain issues in our collective agreement and the onus is not on ABPSA now, but it’s on Establishment to get things done and write back to us and tell us what is what,” she said.
The ABPSA president said that the government has not committed to giving a timeframe by which it will get back to the union.
“We asked them for a timeframe, they say as soon as possible, so we don’t have any timeframe. I would say [the meeting] was much better than the last time we met,” Peters said.
The meeting, which should have started at 10 am, instead commenced after 11am and lasted until about 1:30 pm.
Supported by their bargaining agent on July 26, a number of established government workers from various ministries picketed the Establishment Department located upstairs CIBC Caribbean bank on Old Parham Road to register their frustration over the unsigned collective bargaining agreement.
