Dispute over non-payment of salary increases to employees who earn a commission

Sep 29, 2020 Letters

Dear Editor,

I regret to confirm a dispute between the Clerical & Commercial Workers’ Union (CCWU) and Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL). The matter at hand is the non-payment of salary increases to DDL’s employees who are paid a commission. Their pay is usually made up of the basic minimum wage plus the established commission.

However, the pay increases recently offered by DDL to the staff excluded those employees who are earning a commission. It is not unusual for the basic pay of this category of workers to be adjusted when the Company’s minimum wage is adjusted. This is consistent with the terms of the Collective Labour Agreement. The CCWU is questioning the rationale for excluding the affected workers from the basic pay increases.

In the avoidance and settlement of disputes, an agreement which was signed on the 4th December, 1970 by representatives of the CCWU and DDL, Clause 16 states: “This Agreement may by mutual consent of both the Company and the Union be amended from time to time”. No amendment has been made to justify the exclusion of commission employees from basic salary increases.

I look forward to those aspects of the Ministry of Labour recommendations, which relate to industrial relations and in particular to the peaceful settlement of disputes.

Yours truly,
Sherwood Clarke
General President
CLERICAL AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS’ UNION

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