For­mer min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Fi­nance Bri­an Man­ning is urg­ing Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) pres­i­dent Fe­l­isha Thomas to re­sign if she can­not se­cure at least a 10 per cent wage in­crease for pub­lic sec­tor work­ers by Christ­mas.

His re­marks fol­low the PSA’s con­fir­ma­tion that it had re­ceived a for­mal wage of­fer cov­er­ing the 2014–2016 and 2017–2019 bar­gain­ing pe­ri­ods. The pro­pos­al marks the of­fi­cial start of long-de­layed ne­go­ti­a­tions for thou­sands of civ­il ser­vants.

The news has re­newed op­ti­mism among work­ers, but econ­o­mists warn that meet­ing such a com­mit­ment could place sig­nif­i­cant pres­sure on state fi­nances. Some an­a­lysts sug­gest the gov­ern­ment may need to in­crease bor­row­ing or draw from the Her­itage and Sta­bil­i­sa­tion Fund to cov­er the costs.