PM: PSA’s full 10% settlement works out to 15%

News Mya Quamie 17 Hrs Ago

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar - Photo by Angelo Marcelle

The ten per cent settlement given to the Public Services Association actually works out to 15 per cent, according to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s statement in the House of Representatives on December 5.

Reaffirming the government’s decision to make payouts from the $3.8 billion back pay before Christmas to the PSA only, Persad-Bissessar said the issue has been outstanding for a decade.

“This settlement corrects a long-standing injustice and ensures that those who serve the state must be treated with dignity and fairness.”

She said under her previous administration, the 2011-2013 period concluded with a 14 per cent increase for PSA represented workers, closing the cycle and providing relief.

“In 2015, when the PNM took office, the 2014-2016 and the 2017-2019 cycles remained unsettled. From 2015 to early 2022, no settlement was concluded and by 2022, it was publicly acknowledged that workers received no increase since 2014. We are now in 2025.”

She said during the near decade-long “wage freeze” workers received no help, and it was only in 2022 that the former government made its first offer of two per cent over eight years, then a revised offer of four per cent over six years.

“The PSA objected to the treatment of the cost of living allowance, warning that it would weaken future bargaining processes. By mid-2023, the PSA took the matter to court and when the PNM lost government in 2025, no settlement had been concluded, no backpay had been paid and the last completed agreement raining was the 14 per cent settlement given to the PSA under my watch.”

She said the settlement honours the contribution of essential public workers and delivers long overdue relief.

“We see this settlement as a carefully managed stimulus which places resources in the hands of workers who have carried a burden for far too long, properly managed it is not a cost, it is an investment in productivity, in human dignity and in more inclusive national recovery.”