Social Security Employees Go Home with Empty Pockets

There is some contention between the Christian Workers Union and the Social Security Board. The result of that contention is that three hundred S.S.B. workers, always paid on the twenty-sixth of every month, have not received their pay. It has to do with the Collective Bargaining Agreement currently being negotiated by the parties. In a nutshell, this paycheck was to include what is called a transitional increment which is part of the CBA. The increment is to replace a traditional bonus paid to employees in March, and is based on a performance appraisal. Management went ahead and processed the payment for the increment even though the performance appraisal system hasn’t yet come online. The CWU told them sure, we’ll take that increment, but our employees also want the bonus in March. That’s when the S.S.B. slammed on the brakes. They’re blaming the CWU, and today Matura-Shepherd told the media that all fault lies with the S.S.B. and not with the union.

Audrey Matura-Shepherd

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, President, CWU

“How are the staff members now being affected? Unfortunately, because the management went ahead and prematurely paid out this transitional increment and they now realize that they have erred, instead of making the salaries of everyone just go through and the following pay period deduct it, what they did, there were some salaries that had already been posted—those through First Caribbean Bank that they could not withdraw—so they told those employees that next pay period they will withdraw it. But then they went ahead and those who had not been fully posted, they withdrew and withheld their salaries for sixty-two dollars or ninety-eight dollars they withheld people’s salaries and said to them well we have to hold it back because of your union. So as to deflect from their wrongdoing, they are saying basically to their employees that you are not getting paid because of the union and that is rather very, very, very unfair and unjust and disingenuous. The reason they are in that predicament is because they made a unilateral decision which the union brought to their attention. Now, what has happened is that on Friday last, we are informed by our union representative in the headquarters that the manager called two of them in the office and basically told them well we acted because we believe you, the representatives, gave us the okay. I don’t know where that miscommunication occurred because S.S.B. knows and so do our union reps know that any decision that the employees or the instructors given to the union, it goes in writing. We do not act by word of mouth because you can always say he said, she said. The same way we wrote letter asking what this means, if that was the decision of CWU that we agreed with a transitional increment, we would have written an official letter signed by our General Secretary saying we agree. S.S.B. management will never be able to produce such a letter because it never occurred and it never occurred because the mandate of the employees was never that we were to act in that way.”

It is expected that workers will be paid by the end of the week. The CWU is demanding that the S.S.B. make good on any penalties or fees employees could face because they could not meet commitments on the twenty-sixth of the month.