State, PSA remain divided over backpay arrears settlement

The Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) has re­it­er­at­ed its re­jec­tion of the State’s pro­pos­al for a 40 per cent cash and 60 per cent non-cash set­tle­ment of out­stand­ing pub­lic sec­tor ar­rears, while out­lin­ing why it be­lieves work­ers should re­ceive their pay­ments in cash.

In a pub­lic post is­sued on Face­book yes­ter­day, PSA pres­i­dent Fe­l­isha Thomas de­clared, “PSA says NO!” to the pro­pos­al and de­fend­ed the union’s po­si­tion that “wages are earned in cash. They must be paid in cash.”

The ne­go­ti­a­tions in­volve salary pe­ri­ods cov­er­ing 2014-2016 and 2017-2019 and re­main a ma­jor point of con­tention be­tween the union and the State.