PSA wants "living wage"; Gov't firm on 1 per cent offer

The president of the Public Services Association wants government to end to current impasse over salary negotiations.

Watson Duke has rejected the one per cent salary increase offered by government's Chief personnel Officer for the three-year period ending in 2010. The CPO has refused to budget on the offer saying that the government cannot pay any more.

Duke wants that offer is unacceptable. He is demanding what he calls a "living wage" of a minimum of $6,000 a month. Salaries in the public service currently range from a low of about $3,300 a month to a high of $20,000 and allowances for Permanent Secretaries and other senior managers.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has declined comments on the matter. “I think it will be premature to speculate on what will happen. I am sure the parties are talking to each other and I look forward to both sides getting together,” she told reporters.

Duke had instructed PSA members to withhold their labour to protest the CPO's offer. That caused some disruption in services at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex as staff did not show up for work in some departments.

Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis expressed dismay Wednesday at the development. “It is unfortunate people have decided to put the health care of our nationals at risk. But it is a free country,” said at a media briefing.