STATEMENTS by Minister in the Ministry of Public Utilities, Clyde Elder, that unions who accepted the former government’s four per cent wage offer should not expect to receive the same ten per cent increase won by the Public Services Association (PSA), have been slammed by trade unions across Trinidad and Tobago.

Speaking to media outside Parliament on November 28, Elder said those unions will now face challenges in reopening negotiations and noted the lengthy negotiation process the PSA endured.

But Prison Officers’ Association (POA) president Gerard Gordon said the comments fostered division in the labour movement and ignored the nature of the previous agreements.