State telecom company signs big agreement with major trade union

Port-of-Spain: After months of negotiations the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) says its finally reached agreement with the Communication Workers Union for the senior staff bargaining unit for the period 2003 to 2007.

The settlement came after 10 months of bi-lateral talks followed by three months of conciliation meetings with the CWU facilitated by the Ministry of Labour.

The agreement provides for a 23.75 percent salary increase over the five year period, of which 2003 to 2005 have already been paid. this increase is in alignment with the previous settlement handed down by the Industrial Court in December 2010 for TSTT's junior staff.

TSTT says it is pleased to bring closure to this chapter of the negotiations, which it says could have been completed a year ago had the CWU been more realistic in its demands.

Although the agreement has been signed TSTT says its already four years behind on an agreement for the current period and it would like to move post-haste to have this addressed so that its staff can be working for current salaries.