PSA not moving from its demand for $1B for public sector workers

Workers in Trinidad and Tobago have planned a big display of support Tuesday for the Public Services Association (PSA) in demonstrations to demand better pay and benefits for public sector workers.

Several unions have asked their members to join the PSA “Blackout Tuesday Reloaded” march in Port-of-Spain and in Scarborough, Tobago.

Related story: 14 trade unions pledge solidarity with PSA in fight for $$; Blackout Tuesday coming

The PSA is demanding $1 billion to satisfy its wage demands and PSA president Watson Duke is not budging on that.

“We believe $1 billion is more than enough to satisfy our wage increases,” Duke told reporters at a news conference Monday at PSA’s headquarters. “We want that $1 billion. We are not willing to move far from that and we are hoping the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) will come close to that.”

The CPO has offered a wage increase of one per cent over the three-year period ending in 2010. The PSA has rejected that, calling it "insulting". The government has said if it adjusts its offer to meet the PSA demands the national budget will show a deficit of $12 billion for the current fiscal year.

Finance Minister Winston Dookeran has pledged to settle the PSA issue before the end of the year. However he told reporters on Sunday that whatever he does on this and other issues must be in the national interest.

“There is no question we have to find a solution and we will find a solution," he said. However his hope is that the negotiations with the PSA would be settled around the negotiating table, not on the streets.
 
Local media reported Monday that public officers, particularly those in the lower salary scales, stand to benefit from an increase of some four per cent, even before the increase of one per cent, citing government sources.

The increase is a reported to be as a result of consolidation of the Cost of Living Allowance, which existed at the end of the December 2007, with salary at that date. In addition the Government has also indicated to the PSA that it is committed to expanding the Group Health Plan for members of the PSA to include family members, the reports say.

The Government is also committed to its commitment to increase pensions for retired public officers to $3,000.