Civil servants to receive over $8M in compensation
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| Financial Secretary Janet Harris and Minister of Finance Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-GOVERNMENT and other public sector workers will soon begin receiving over $8 million in wage, salary and pension increases, Ministry of Finance officials announced at an October 2 press conference.
The decision to enact a wage increase was largely due to a recently completed study of public sector salaries and benefits by independent consultant John Pilgrim. Shortly after the report’s completion in September, Cabinet approved the document in principle in an effort to fairly compensate civil servants in relation to their private sector counterparts.
“The general finding of the report was that salaries and allowances in the public sector are below that which prevails in the private sector market. Also, benefits in terms of allowances do not compare favoroubly with what prevails in the private sector,” Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris, Minister with responsibility for Finance, said.
Based on recommendations contained in the report, public sector wages are to be increased on a “phased basis” beginning in 2008, including the retroactive payment of $5.8M in salaries, $1.4M in wages and $0.8M in pensions.
Additionally, Cabinet approved the report’s suggested 7.5% increase of public sector wages over the next two years and the regrading of government salaries by 2010. ~~Adz:Right~~
“Government believes it is urgent that we grade and classify all jobs in the public sector, and as a result of this we will propose that the reclassification and regrading exercise should take place in 2009, rather than in 2010 [as suggested by the report]. It is expected that as a result of this exercise we will have an upward realignment of salaries,” Harris said.
SKNVibes inquired exactly how the ministry expected to make provisions within the federal budget to accommodate over $8M in public sector increases.
“Some contingency was put into the budget because we were aware that it was possible we would have an increase, however it was not sufficient to cover the entire increase. Therefore, we are going to meet the additional amount by cutting other areas of expenditure,” St. Kitts-Nevis Financial Secretary Janet Harris said.
She added that by cutting unnecessary equipment expenditures, splurge spending typical in the fourth quarter and government training travel expenses, the ministry would have no trouble covering the proposed increases.
Minister Harris also said that public sector workers would see their insurance, telephone and travel allowances taken under review in 2009 for a possible increase.
The 2008 increase for the public sector comes after a nearly 13% salary and pension increase over the past two years, which Harris said was part of the government’s commitment to “keep the fiscal state of the economy constantly under review”.
