More than 1,000 nurses and police will be among public servants who receive back pay this month despite their representative bodies pulling out of wage negotiations with Government, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced on Tuesday. 

A brief statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said Pierre has taken steps to ensure members of the Royal St. Lucia Police represented by the Police Welfare Association (PWA) and the membership of the St. Lucia Nurses Association (SLNA) benefit from the ongoing disbursement of EC$20 million (One EC dollar = US$0.37) in back pay. 

Both the PWA and the SLNA had pulled out of the Trade Union Federation (TUF) umbrella to independently pursue wage negotiations with the Government Negotiating Team (GNT). That decision made them ineligible to receive wage benefits agreed upon by the GNT and TUF in 2019. 

“However, Prime Minister Pierre with the support of the Cabinet of Ministers, has decided in good faith to include the PWA and SLNA membership – more than 1,000 workers – and has made allocations to ensure they too enjoy a commensurate share of the previously negotiated back pay arrangement,” the OPM statement said. 

Government announced earlier this year that the first tranche of the back pay would be distributed this month and the second in March 2023. 

A two per cent wage and salary increase is also scheduled in 2023, on top of the one per cent increase that took effect in April this year. (Source loop)