Barbados gov't and trade unions reach agreement on salary increase
Published:Wednesday | March 8, 2023 | 7:03 PM
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Barbados government has reached an agreement with public sector trade unions to pay increased wages.
Under the deal, workers will get a one-off payment of $1,500 as well as a three per cent salary increase for 2023-2024, another three percent for the year 2024-2025 , and a 16 per cent hike in allowances up to 2025.
The agreement was reached on Tuesday following four rounds of negotiations.
Under the agreement, there will also be a regrading and job evaluation exercise across the public service this year and a committee set up to address employee grievances.
The National Union of Public Workers, which represents the largest number of public sector employees, welcomed the settlement as reasonable, while the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados described the negotiations as successful based on the principle of “give and take”.
In a statement, the Ministry of Public Service said that the deal will be given to “all persons who at March 31 of this year will have been working in the public service and in state-owned enterprises that are dependent on central government for recurring financial support.
“Those state-owned enterprises not relying on central government for their recurring financial support will be encouraged to conclude any outstanding salaries and wages negotiations in short order,” it added.
The statement also disclosed that outside of the financial package, the parties also agreed on a series of non-salaried items “aimed at enhancing the overall employee experience of public officers”.
These include the creation of 22 master teacher posts and 10 specialist nurse posts; the establishment of a Grievance Monitoring Committee to meet monthly to track and resolve public officers' grievances; a public service-wide regrading and job evaluation exercise to begin this year; and the inclusion of additional posts in the public officers' loan and travel allowances framework.
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