Opposition wants wage hike for politicians delayed until public sector salary issues are settled

The parliamentary Opposition wants the Government to delay the implementation of the massive wage hike for politicians until the outstanding issues raised by public sector workers arising from their compensation review are resolved.

Further, the People's National Party (PNP), which forms the Opposition, has called for the Andrew Holness-led administration to reconsider its decision to realign the salaries of Cabinet ministers to one dollar above the highest point in the band for permanent secretaries.

The salary band for permanent secretaries' starts at a low of $17 million annually to a high of $23 million, Julian Robinson, Opposition Spokesman on Finance, told journalists during a press conference on Friday.

According to Robinson, the new salaries for Cabinet ministers were pegged at the highest point in the band, which accounted for the massive wage hike for members of parliament, whose salaries are a percentage of ministers.

“We are saying that alignment should more be in the middle of the band…somewhere in the range of 19 to 20 [million dollars yearly],” Robinson suggested during the press conference at the PNP's St Andrew headquarters.

Coming out of the compensation review undertaken by the government, teachers in the public sector have taken issue with the calculation of their salaries and the disparity in wages for long-serving educators.

Other public sector workers have complained about the removal of increments without consultation, the absorption of duty allowances, and issues related to travelling allowances.

Charging that many public sector workers were left “out in the cold”, Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding said the massive award to the political class “further offends that principle of equity.”

Golding noted that the new salaries for Jamaican elected officials are “way higher” than their counterparts in the Caribbean.

“That is a situation that is difficult to justify given that we have one of the lowest rates of GDP [gross domestic product] per capita among our regional peers and Jamaica has not managed to rise out of this chronic low economic growth pattern,” said Golding, who also spoke at the press conference.

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