by Donella Hosten
The Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT) has agreed to accept the government’s one-off payment of EC$1,000 — after weeks of sitting at the negotiation table.
President of the GUT, Lydon Lewis, confirmed that the GUT received a written confirmation from the government earlier this week. “We are happy to announce that we got that commitment this morning.”
Lewis stated that they Union’s acceptance stemmed from government’s commitment to return to the negotiating table by the end of June to further discuss another sum of money to be paid.
According to Lewis, this written commitment can hold government accountable to their word. He said Government will be making the $1,000 one-off payment by the end of this month.
Although a figure was not given by either the Union or the government on the exact sum the workers will receive at the end of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in June, Lewis is hopeful that government will honour their commitment.
The Government is still in negotiations with the Public Workers’ Union (PWU) and the Grenada Technical and Allied Workers Union (GTAWU) who have continuously refused Government’s one-off offer of EC$1,000. The Ministry of Labour was expected to give an answer by Tuesday, 28 February; however the Ministry confirmed that this has not yet been done, as of Wednesday, 1 March 2017.
