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In­dus­tri­al ten­sions in the pub­lic health sec­tor are set to in­ten­si­fy, af­ter Trinidad and To­ba­go Na­tion­al Nurs­es As­so­ci­a­tion (TTNNA) pres­i­dent Idi Stu­art warned that nurs­es may con­sid­er with­hold­ing ex­tra-du­ty ser­vices in re­sponse to Gov­ern­ment’s move to stan­dard­ise pool rates.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Stu­art made it clear the as­so­ci­a­tion is pre­pared to force a cost­ly shift in how nurs­es are com­pen­sat­ed.

“If they are man­dat­ed to work ex­tra du­ty, the au­thor­i­ty will have to pay over­time, time and a half, dou­ble time, triple time,” he said, ar­gu­ing that nurs­es are un­der no oblig­a­tion to ac­cept ex­tra shifts at the re­vised rates.