Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar an­nounced Gov­ern­ment has in­struct­ed the Na­tion­al In­sur­ance Board of Trinidad and To­ba­go (NIBTT) to im­ple­ment salary ad­just­ments and pay out­stand­ing ar­rears to em­ploy­ees dat­ing back to the 2014–2016 ne­go­ti­at­ing pe­ri­od.

Speak­ing in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives to­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the de­ci­sion was in­tend­ed to up­hold work­ers’ rights, ho­n­our law­ful agree­ments, and re­store jus­tice. “The for­mer PNM gov­ern­ment placed po­lit­i­cal in­ter­fer­ence above the law, sac­ri­ficed jus­tice on the al­tar of ex­pe­di­en­cy, and in the process robbed thou­sands of cit­i­zens of their right­ful salary ad­just­ments and ar­rears,” she said, not­ing that 600 cur­rent em­ploy­ees and 350 for­mer em­ploy­ees had been af­fect­ed.

Cab­i­net has di­rect­ed the Board to im­ple­ment the agreed salary ad­just­ments “with im­me­di­ate ef­fect” and to fa­cil­i­tate “full and prompt pay­ment of all out­stand­ing ar­rears to af­fect­ed em­ploy­ees with­out de­lay.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar de­scribed the move as part of a broad­er pro­gramme to set­tle out­stand­ing ne­go­ti­a­tions across the pub­lic ser­vice and state sec­tor. “This is gov­er­nance an­chored in fair­ness, ac­count­abil­i­ty, and de­liv­ery,” she said. “It is about build­ing a na­tion where every cit­i­zen can see and feel the re­sults of sound pol­i­cy — in their salaries, in their dig­ni­ty, in their com­mu­ni­ties, and in the op­por­tu­ni­ties se­cured for their chil­dren and gen­er­a­tions to come.”

The Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (PSA) wel­comed the an­nounce­ment, prais­ing the Gov­ern­ment for ful­fill­ing a long-over­due set­tle­ment. PSA Pres­i­dent Fe­l­isha Thomas said the de­ci­sion was “a vic­to­ry for the hard­work­ing em­ploy­ees of the NIB” and com­mend­ed work­ers for their pa­tience and re­silience over the years.

The PSA said it would con­tin­ue to mon­i­tor work­ers’ rights across state in­sti­tu­tions.