Sterling Products Limited (SPL) signed a new Memorandum of Agreement with the Clerical and Commercial Workers’ Union (CCWU) which will see employees receiving an increase in wages and salaries of 7% for the year 2016 and 7.5% for the year 2017.
The agreement was signed on July 12, in the presence of Chief Labour Officer, Charles Ogle at the Ministry of Labour, Brickdam, Georgetown.
According to a statement from the company, Ogle commended SPL and CCWU for working closely to arrive at an agreement that will see workers benefiting, through the process of collective bargaining. “Regardless of the duration of time it takes, this agreement shows that collective bargaining is happening and the union is negotiating,” he said.
CCWU General Secretary, Ann Nelson-Anderson, said the process which the union and SPL went through to arrive at the agreement, is a demonstration of the “true definition of negotiation.”
“Like any union, we would put what we would like to see but then we have that process of negotiating and even though we took longer than we usually do, the workers played the majority role in this negotiation because they were the ones who made the decision on this agreement,” Mrs. Anderson said.
Noting that the negotiations took some time, SPL’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ramsay Ali, said the company has always maintained a “fruitful, cordial and instructive” relationship with the union.
“One I think both the union and company can be proud of is the fact that we can sit down at the table and discuss issues and get to the bottom of them and amicably resolve them. This agreement took some time because they were a couple of issues that needed to be discussed” Ali stated.
The agreement will also see several categories of workers benefiting from increased allowances, bursary awards and premiums while paid vacation leave, employees’ health insurance, paid sick leave, education assistance, pension plan, life insurance and other benefits were maintained.
