CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC):

Already faced by teachers' threat of industrial action, the St Lucia government was given another ultimatum yesterday when public servants warned that they expect their wage negotiations to be concluded by Friday.

"If the unions and the Government don't budge then the negotiations would have rolled into a stalemate and, having discussed the matter at the level of the public service unions, we have taken the decision to write to the prime minister and minister of finance, giving him up to this week to accept the proposal," said Civil Service Association (CSA) General Secretary David Demarque.

Original demand

The CSA said that it has been mandated by its members to stick to its original demand for a 16 per cent wage hike. The St Lucia Teachers' Union has also said it would not budge from its original demand for a 16 per cent hike and has unanimously rejected the two options put forward by the Stephenson King government to end the stalemate.

Government is said to be proposing an 11 per cent increase with a lump sum of EC$2,000 (US$740) to be paid in the first of three years, or a 13 per cent tax- free increase in the first year.

Demarque said that when the CSA left the bargaining table on August 14, its demand was for an 18 per cent increase but that the government had responded with a 13 per cent hike.