Contract work next on Clarke's public sector reform agenda

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has committed to immediately turning his attention to addressing the "undue reliance" on contract work in the public sector after the current compensation review is implemented.

Clarke gave the commitment during a hastily arranged town hall meeting on Monday, hosted to address jitters among public sector workers regarding the compensation review.

In speaking of his plans to tackle contract work, Clarke said the Government would not "shy away from any difficult kind of reform".

Clarke said the Government was not able to fix the contract work issues at the same time as the reform of the compensation system, but "as soon as this implementation is on its way...my attention will immediately turn to the reform of contract employment in the public sector, and I give you that assurance." 

Clarke said town hall meetings and other fora would be used to consult with workers and members of the public when that process begins.

"It's a huge, huge problem, with tens of thousands of persons in that group. What has been built up over 30 years is not something I can just solve in a second, ladies and gentlemen, but if you invest your confidence in us as a team, we will address it and we will come up with solutions that we can share with you," Clarke stated.

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