Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has revealed that the recently negotiated 10% settlement for the Public Services Association (PSA) effectively translates to a 15% compensation package when comprehensively calculated. The announcement was made during her December 5 address in the House of Representatives, marking a significant breakthrough in a decade-long wage dispute.
The government has committed to distributing $3.8 billion in back payments exclusively to PSA members before Christmas, addressing what the Prime Minister characterized as “a long-standing injustice” toward public servants. Persad-Bissessar emphasized that the settlement demonstrates her administration’s commitment to ensuring state workers “are treated with dignity and fairness.”
Providing historical context, the Prime Minister contrasted her government’s approach with that of the previous administration. She noted that under her earlier leadership (2011-2013), public workers received a 14% increase, while subsequent years under the PNM government saw stagnant wages from 2015 through early 2022. The former administration’s initial offer of a mere 2% over eight years, later revised to 4% over six years, was met with strong opposition from the PSA.
The union had particularly objected to the treatment of cost-of-living allowances, warning that such approaches would undermine future bargaining processes. The dispute eventually reached the courts by mid-2023, and when the government changed hands in 2025, no resolution had been achieved.
Persad-Bissessar framed the settlement not as an expense but as a “carefully managed stimulus” that places resources in the hands of burdened workers. She positioned the payout as “an investment in productivity, in human dignity and in more inclusive national recovery,” signaling a renewed focus on public sector compensation under her administration.
