Following the formal conclusion of mediation before the Minister of Labour, Republic Bank (Grenada) Limited and Bank and General Workers’ Union, on 18 July 2023 resumed direct bilateral discussions with a view to settling negotiations for a new collective agreement for the period January 2020 to December 2023.
Both parties approached this latest round of talks in a spirit of compromise and mutual respect in an effort to bring a speedy resolution of the dispute that was primarily over salary increases.
At the conclusion of those discussions, the Bank and the Union identified a pathway for the resolution of these negotiations which in the ensuing days, resulted in parties agreeing in principle to a 10.25% salary increase over 4 years distributed as follows: (1.5% x 1.5% x 3.5% x 3.75%).
Other key elements of the agreement included:
- A goodwill payment up to a maximum of 12 days base salary to workers who lost salary as a result of their participation in strike action; and
- A commitment by the Union to end strike action so that workers could return to work on Friday, 21 July 2023
On 20 July 2023, the Bank submitted to the Union for its review and signoff a letter confirming the terms of settlement between parties. After several exchanges between parties on that day and revisions to the said letter at the Union’s request, Joseph Mitchell, President General, Bank and General Workers Union gave a commitment to the Bank’s lead negotiator Condell Simmons, Senior Manager, Group Employee & Industrial Relations that the Union would sign the letter confirming the terms of agreement early on the morning of 21 July 2023.
The Bank looks forward to receiving from the Union on Friday, 21 July 2023 as promised, a signed copy of the letter which reflects the terms of agreement between parties and the return to work of all staff on Monday, 24 July 2023.
We take this opportunity to thank our employees who maintained service to our customers over the past 3 weeks and to our customers for their patience and understanding during this time.
We also thank the Union for its collaborative approach to bringing these negotiations to an amicable and successful close.
We will update our customers and the general public as more information becomes available via our website, www.republicgrenada.com.
Republic Bank
