Switching now to public officers pay…apart from the salary cut, their increments have been frozen. So, while they would have hoped that after 3 years when that freeze ends, they would be restored to the pay scale where they were supposed to be, that isn't so. Instead, they will be at the same one they were at before the freeze.
It's a depressing sore point for public officers, but the DPM assured the officers that it won't be permanent and there would be regular checks every six months.
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister
"I imagine the lawyers who advised the government advised that we would have to take that route, but the commitment entirely is that it's not permanent, it's for the time being, it's three years, and the commitment to the unions is that we would revisit this annually to see if we nee to continue the cuts or whether we would be able to pull back from that. Every six months, the union side and the government side will meet to go over the numbers to make sure that we are doing what we're supposed to do. That way if we're not doing what we're supposed to do or we're being derailed, then we can go back and focus on what we have to do to ensure that we meet our targets."
"At the time of retirement, the computation will reflect as though the cuts have not been made so that it gives the government enough time to get their house in order, but the public officers will get what they're supposed to get at that time."
