PR – The Bank and General Workers Union (BGWU) is advising the general public that efforts to settle the ongoing trade dispute between Republic Bank Grenada Ltd. and the Bank and General Workers Union failed to reach a settlement yesterday July 12th, 2023.
Negotiations for a New Collective Agreement between both parties commenced on April 13th, 2022. There were ten (10) rounds of Negotiations at the bilateral level, two (2) rounds with the Labour Commissioner and three (3) rounds with the Minister of Labour Hon. Claudette Joseph.
The last round of mediation at the Ministry of Labour ended on March 13th, 202, with the Bank claiming that it required the Minister’s written recommendation to act. The Union accepted the Minister’s recommendation.
The written recommendation was provided by the Minister of Labour on July 3rd, 2023. Yesterday, July 12th, 2023 the Bank wrote the Minister of Labour informing her that they had rejected her recommendation of 12.25% over a four (4) year period.
BGWU views this development as extremely unfortunate and doesn’t provide the right climate for industrial peace.
The Union is expressing our concern over this latest development since the workers and general public continues to be negatively impacted by the ongoing strike action.
BGWU calls on the management of Republic Bank to do all it can to ensure industrial calm and an environment for the economic development of our country.
