The Estate Police Association (EPA) and Security Executive Surveillance Law Enforcement Ltd (SESL) have agreed and signed off on a five-year period (2015-2019) for a 20 per cent increase in wages.

The agreement took place on March 26 at SESL's office in San Fernando. Newsday learned that workers are expected to get their back pay within a year.

EPA president Deryck Richardson said the payments were expected to be made alphabetically, and workers would receive a portion of the money monthly.

Richardson recalled that the association proposed closing the long-outstanding periods to have a current agreement in place and the company duly agreed.

"We also agreed to the implementation of mandatory health and pension plans for the membership, which is groundbreaking in the private security industry," Richardson said.

"The pension and health plans are groundbreaking (for) the private security industry, which will ensure that officers receive some financial support at the end of their service, which does not currently happen."

Richardson said the EPA was focused on providing tangible benefits to its members.

"We see this as an indication of what can happen when you have an invested employer and committed association to participate in the bargaining process," he said.

Richardson said the association must acknowledge the management team's work, led by HR manager Shanna Salick, assistant general manager Christopher Crooks, and IR consultant Akida Mohammed, who were committed to closing the negotiation.

He also said, "Our industrial relations consultant, David Webber, must be mentioned for the tireless work on the negotiation team, led by the first VP Vedesh Bhagwandeen, and the SESL branch board, led by chairman Gregory Nurse, Cecelia Brown, Janet Gomez, Suresh Sooknarine and Lisa Joseph."

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