Economists urge PSA to accept final wage offer

Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) mem­bers are be­ing urged to ac­cept the Gov­ern­ment’s fi­nal wage of­fer, as econ­o­mists weigh the coun­try’s se­vere fi­nan­cial con­straints against the de­clin­ing val­ue of mon­ey owed to work­ers af­ter eight years of ne­go­ti­a­tions.

Chief Per­son­nel Of­fi­cer Dr Daryl Din­di­al has main­tained the Gov­ern­ment’s of­fer of 40 per cent in cash and 60 per cent in non-cash ben­e­fits for out­stand­ing wage ne­go­ti­a­tions cov­er­ing 2014 to 2019. The State has said the pro­pos­al is in­tend­ed to pro­vide a re­spon­si­ble set­tle­ment while pro­tect­ing pub­lic-sec­tor jobs.

But econ­o­mist Dr In­dera Sage­wan said the coun­try’s fi­nan­cial po­si­tion means the PSA must con­sid­er more than the im­me­di­ate in­ter­ests of its mem­bers.