Senior Reporter
otto.carrington
@cnc3.co.tt
A major showdown is brewing in the public sector, with both the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) and the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) warning that the Government’s proposed 10 per cent wage settlement with the Public Services Association offers little comfort to other employees in the state sector.
“We will not be quiet. We will not be silenced. TTUTA will not be silenced,” vowed TTUTA president Crystal Bevon Ashe.
The two unions representing tens of thousands of workers, claimed the State’s recent posture amounts to increasing instability, disrespect, and financial strain on public officers heading into Christmas.
Last Friday, Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo said there will only be backpay for the PSA before Christmas. PSA members stand to benefit from $3.8 billion in backpay after securing a 10 per cent wage increase last month.
Earlier last week, Tancoo had said PSA members may have to accept non-cash payments as part of the backpay.
But yesterday, the NUGFW, which has been one of the strongest critics of the Government’s approach to backpay, warned that any attempt to rely on non-cash instruments, delayed payments, or staggered promises is unacceptable.
Speaking on CNC3’s The Morning Brew programme, NUGFW president general Christopher Streete said, “You cannot offer ten per cent, then tell workers their backpay will come as some instrument, some voucher, some IOU. Workers need cash. Workers need certainty. And workers need it now.
“People cannot buy groceries or pay bills with creative accounting. This is a violation of confidence, and possibly a violation of their rights.”
Meanwhile, TTUTA president Ashe said teachers face a second issue as they wait for the Government to finalise the salary settlement for teachers: administrative instability, acting without compensation, and the rise of “performing duties” instructions.
Ashe explained that teachers who are properly appointed to act receive the salary difference, but that system is being eroded.
“If you are acting, you get the difference in pay—that is your entitlement. But principals are now being asked to ‘perform duties,’ which means we cannot guarantee they will be paid, nor that the experience will ever count when they go for interviews.”
He called the practice illogical and exploitative.
Street said workers, many of whom have been waiting since before the pandemic, must receive their full backpay in cash, without delays or non-monetary alternatives.
“No worker should enter 2026 without receiving what is legally and morally owed to them,” he said.
Both TTUTA and NUGFW said the Government’s handling of appointments, promotions, and backpay is creating a public-service system that is unstable, demoralising, and financially dangerous.
TTUTA settled for five per cent earlier this year.
Ashe warned, “Teachers need their money. They need their stability. The Minister of Finance must do what he promised.”
He said TTUTA will hold an emergency general council meeting to determine its next steps.
