By Richard A. Simon

St. George’s, Grenada, 29th March, 2023 (RS): A senior trades union official in Grenada has welcomed the conclusion of a “historic” agreement between the Grenada Union of Teachers and the government of Grenada which lays the foundation for a 13% salary increase for the island’s teachers.

In an exclusive interview with the Barnacle newspaper, the official, who asked not to be named, agreed with the President of the GUT, Jude Bartholomew, that the agreement was “historic” but for reasons different from those outlined by the GUT Boss.

“I think it was a good take home. As a good negotiator, you would have preferred 5%, 4%, 4% because your increases are compounded.  The fact that the government made good on the issue of pensions which benefits our members and looking at the economic outlook for the year and moving forward we felt that this is a good take home at this point, in addition to the fringe benefits that have financial implications for the government,” the official said.

The senior union official said the quick settlement of an agreement was partly due to a difference in tone from previous years when industrial action and acrimony was a regular feature of salary negotiations.

“The tone this time around was different from what we had become accustomed to and it started from the very beginning. We never went to the table and have the government coming with a 2% or 1 %,” he said pointing out that previous Government Negotiating Team (GNT) “always started at zero.”  He said the fact that the current government in 2022 started the negotiations with a 4%, 2%, 2% proposal showed that “from the get go you had an “administration that was willing to seriously talk.”   

“The whole vibe of the negotiations and the discussions were different to what we had become accustomed to. You never got a sense that this is a team that isn’t willing to move or willing to give you something. There was never a feeling that we were going to shut the process down”, the source told the Barnacle.

The official praised the leadership of both Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell and the leader of the government negotiating team, Bernard Antoine who both respected the union negotiators and in the case of the Prime Minister used his experiences to empower the GNT with a “different approach to negotiations. “

“A lot of things that were taken around the table were taken for what they’re worth and I think that kind of approach made a significant difference in the discussions, ensuring that it all went smoothly,” the official said.