Kali­fa Clyne

Pub­lic ser­vants re­joiced with cheers and hugs yes­ter­day, af­ter the Pub­lic Ser­vice As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) set­tled with the Chief Per­son­nel Of­fi­cer (CPO) for a 14 per cent salary in­crease for the years 2011 to 2013.The in­crease was spread out across the three years, with four per cent in 2011 and 2012 and six per cent in 2013. The last time the PSA set­tled wage ne­go­ti­a­tions with the CPO was in 2011 for five per cent.

Speak­ing af­ter the agree­ment, PSA pres­i­dent Wat­son Duke, who had been of­fered be­tween six per cent and 13 per cent, said all but a few al­lowances had been in­creased by 15 per cent."There were some things we had to strug­gle a lit­tle longer to get. The al­lowances were at about 12 per cent this morn­ing and we had to strug­gle to get that in­creased."We thank the CPO for demon­strat­ing a hu­man side, we are very glad for that. It is much more than pub­lic ser­vants have ever got­ten," Duke said.

He said they had sought a nine per cent in­crease for 2011, ten per cent for 2012 and six per cent for 2013, a to­tal in­crease of 25 per cent, and ne­go­ti­a­tions had start­ed with the sub­mis­sion of a pro­pos­al to pay pub­lic ser­vants at mar­ket rates.Duke en­tered the CPO's of­fice at around 10 am yes­ter­day and com­plet­ed the agree­ment around 3 pm. As he ex­it­ed the build­ing, the group of pub­lic ser­vants who had gath­ered to show sup­port cheered loud­ly.

"I can say to you to­day that we have been un­der some pres­sure in­side. Even last Mon­day we had a meet­ing and some peo­ple asked us to sign for 13 per cent," he said."I lis­tened to every­one but I al­so lis­tened to those who said fight on and in the spir­it of that we pushed and we pushed and we pushed and we are able to now set­tle at a 14 per cent."It is the high­est of­fer that has ever been giv­en to any pub­lic ser­vant in the pub­lic sec­tor with­in T&T, the high­est. Oth­ers have got­ten nine, some have got­ten 12 but we have got­ten 14."

He said the State recog­nised that pub­lic ser­vants need­ed to be paid at mar­ket rates but that it had to be done in­cre­men­tal­ly.

Teach­ers got 14% too

Last year, the T&T Uni­fied Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion al­so set­tled for 14 per cent for the pe­ri­od Oc­to­ber 2011 to Sep­tem­ber 2014.Teach­ers al­so re­ceived new Cost of Liv­ing Al­lowance (CO­LA) for each of the three years as fol­lows: $160 per month for 2011-2012, $175 per month for 2012-2013 and $225 for 2013-2014.The CPO is still in ne­go­ti­a­tions with the po­lice, pris­ons and fire ser­vices.Mem­bers of these ser­vices have with­held their ser­vices for the past three days as a sign of dis­sat­is­fac­tion with wage ne­go­ti­a­tions.