Correctional Officers Still in Talks with Government On Fringe Benefits

The Correctional Services Welfare Association (CSWA) is still evaluating its options regarding the government’s proposed 13 per cent wage increase.

Public Relations Officer of the CSWA Yasmine Peter has explained that while the association partnered with the Trade Union Federation during the negotiation process, it remains unclear whether correctional officers will benefit from the proposed increase.

“The Trade Union Federation proposed a protocol for negotiations this time around. We did not sign into the protocol. However, we agreed in principle that they would be negotiating salaries on our behalf. 

‘Unfortunately, when the Trade Union Federation met with all the other members under the protocol, we were not invited to that meeting. So I think we were left to negotiate salaries on our own,” she said. 

The CSWA joined the Police Welfare Association (PWA) in holding strong reservations about the wage increase announced by Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre last week. 

Peter explained that, like the PWA, the CSWA is concerned about the status of fringe benefits, including allowances and incentives.

“Fringe benefits would be allowances for our members. We talk about duty allowance, we talk about laundry allowance – benefits. But when we talk about salaries, we’re talking about salary increases for the period,” she noted. 

The CSWA PRO also stressed that the preferred negotiation period is three years, rather than the six years proposed by the Government Negotiations Team (GNT).

“I want to make it clear that we’re negotiating for 2022 to 2025. We’re hearing in the media that it’s six years, but when we sat at the table with GNT, we submitted a document for three years,” she clarified.