Editorial: No way to negotiate

The Public services Association has every right to demand better wages and working conditions for its members. And it has an obligation to be adamant about what it considers fair.

However the tactics it is using is not conducive to good industrial relations practice. 

Last year the PSA encouraged its members to stage lunchtime protests and it also held some large demonstrations to show its displeasure over the government's wage offer to thousands of public service workers, which now stands at a five per cent increase over three years.

PSA president Watson Duke has called that offer insulting and is demanding double digit increases at a time when the state is struggling to deal with many other economic problems inherited from the Manning PNM administration. And it has to do it with a depleted treasury. 

On Tuesday, Duke is planning what he describes as a "massive, massive" 6-hour demonstration in Port of Spain, complete with music trucks. And he has warned those trade unions that do not support the event that they will be "reprimanded".

The question is wheter this show will do anything to convince the government that these workers deserve anything better. When they should be at work they would be dancing on the streets in an early carnival.

Duke, of course, has argued that the workers don't have to put in a full day's effort on the job because they don't earn enough for a full day's work. It's a puerile argument and it certainly will not help then employer feel sympathy for the workers.

What Duke should be doing is leaving his members on the job and going to the negotiating table with sound economic arguments and proposals to demonstrate that they cannot continue to work under existing conditions. 

If a strike becomes necessary as part of the process, then it should be done using professional industrial relations practices. Trinidad and Tobago is still a country that recognises workers' rights.

Twenty-five thousand people parading with music blaring through the streets of Port of Spain might present an image of solidarity and produce good newspaper copy and television footage but it will not advance the cause of the workers.

Such blackmail tactics are counter productive and if Duke is truly a leader he should know better.

Collective bargaining cannot be conducted in such an atmosphere. What is needed is an environment in which employers and workers have an equal voice in negotiations so that each side can aim for a fair and equitable outcome.

Duke is using an unfair advantage and might be hurting his own members while trying to score points in this struggle. This is no way to negotiate, Mr Duke. It's time to get back to the table and negotiate.