A months-long negotiation over public sector worker backpay has hit a frustrating deadlock, with the president of Trinidad and Tobago’s Public Services Association (PSA) describing the impasse as “the first unsettled settlement in history”. The standoff comes eight months after the union and the government signed a landmark Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) that secured a 10% salary increase for eligible workers, but deferred negotiations on how outstanding backpay arrears would be structured and disbursed. The arrears in question cover two multi-year periods: 2014 to 2016, and 2017 to 2019.