Cabrera's union wins 33% wage hike but says some employers still have wage restraint policy

Employees of the Public Services Credit Union are getting a 33 per cent wage increase.

The Banking, Insurance and General Workers’ Union (BIGWU) made the announcement Monday at a news conference. 

Vincent Cabrera (Guardian photo)

BIGWU president Vincent Cabrera told reporters the increase covers the period 2009 to 2012. He noted that despite the success, some companies in the financial service sector are still holding on to a “wage-restraint ideology.”

He said Republic Bank, American Life and General Insurance Company (Algico) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) are all reluctant to agree to what he called "just and fair salary increases" even though their organisations are more profitable than the credit union that accepted the 33 per cent increase for its workers.

Cabrera cited a recent news report that he said showed CEOs and senior managers of private companies receive increases close to 20 per cent a year. 

“This means that the labour market of Trinidad and Tobago is one of the fundamental contributors to inequity in the society, and we at present, after having all these victories in the financial and service sector, are faced with some players in the financial sector who, unlike these players, are holding on to this wage-restraint ideology,” he said.

Cabrera said the 2011 Central Bank Economic Survey showed that for the period 2008 to 2010, the average three-year increase was 17.3 per cent. He said in spite of that the government has been promoting a five per cent cap.