De­spite an up­com­ing deficit bud­get and the eco­nom­ic chal­lenges that the coun­try faces, in­dus­tri­al re­la­tions con­sul­tant who is al­so a for­mer chief labour re­la­tions of­fi­cer at the Min­istry of Labour Sabi­na Gomez be­lieves that the Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) will re­ceive a 10 per cent wage set­tle­ment in the next fis­cal year.

While Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has ad­mit­ted that it will be an­oth­er deficit bud­get in ear­ly Oc­to­ber, she qual­i­fied that state­ment by say­ing that it will be a “very good bud­get” with el­e­ments to gen­er­ate rev­enue.

In an in­ter­view with the Busi­ness Guardian, Gomez who has had decades of ex­pe­ri­ence in in­dus­tri­al re­la­tions and deal­ing with trade unions spoke about pos­si­ble wage in­creas­es and oth­er labour-re­lat­ed top­ics that will arise and should be ad­dressed in the up­com­ing bud­get and in the cur­rent fis­cal year.