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TTRN President Idi Stuart – Photo by Angelo Marcelle
TRINIDAD and Tobago Registered Nurses Association (TTRNA) president Idi Stuart has said members of his association have discovered the government has not made payments to the National Insurance Board (NIB) on their behalf.
He is calling on the government to address the issue urgently.
Speaking to Newsday by phone on September 4, Stuart said the issue had been raised after a meeting on September 3 with the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), of which the union is a part.
“When our members go to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) office and ask for a printout of their contributions, they are seeing missing payments.
“These payments are not going to NIS even though they are being deducted from workers’ salaries.
“This is the government doing this, not private people. We are concerned that government is taking from the poor to give to the rich – a reverse Robin Hood.”
He said the association was currently researching how many of its members had been affected. He said members of several other unions had been affected.
The association met with the Health Ministry and representatives of the regional health authorities on September 3 to discuss several issues, including nurse retention strategies; permanent employment in the Northwest Regional Health Authority (NWRHA); scholarships and grants for postgraduate programmes; stipends for University of the Southern Caribbean and UWI nursing students; health-sector accreditation; delayed increment and pension payments; motor vehicle tax exemption for travelling officers; amending the Nursing Personnel Act; improving the compensation levels of nursing and midwifery personnel; creating new nursing levels according to the TTRNA draft collective agreement to allow greater opportunities for promotion; and filling existing vacancies in nursing management.
Stuart said Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said many of the changes being requested would need legislative changes and new legislation, which might not be possible, as the government had set its legislative agenda for the upcoming year.
He said the minister said the government was in a financial crunch and the nurses should not be asking for more.
But Stuart said the nurses used to have many of the benefits being requested and were asking for them to be reinstated, including permanent employment with the NWRHA, pension payments and motor vehicle tax exemption for travelling officers.
