Govt says salaries will now be paid out every two weeks

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

UNION heads berated Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday for announcing that public servants would start having their salaries paid every two weeks, insisting they were not consulted and that the plan may have been ill-thought-out.

Bahamas Public Service Union president Kimsley Ferguson and Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) president Belinda Wilson expressed shock and disappointment at the announcement.

During his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Assembly, Mr Davis announced several reforms for the public sector, which he said would “revolutionise” the administration of payments for government employees.

He said these include introducing electronic salary notifications, online job applications and bi-weekly salary payments via Cloud Bahamas, a project launched by the government in May to digitise the public service.

“Bi-weekly salary payments mean that our employees will now be able to be paid every two weeks,” he said.

“This will allow for more frequent paydays, which will almost certainly support employees to improve their cash flow. This, in turn, will hopefully shield employees from high-interest consumer loans in order to fund everyday expenses.”

Nonetheless, Mr Ferguson called the announcement “haphazard” while Ms Wilson said she was “taken aback” by it.

 “This has not been a well thought out process as to how this is going to adversely affect public servants by making this decision, and, hence, the Bahamas Public Services Union and unions at large are not going to sit by and allow the government to do these things,” Mr Ferguson said, adding that no studies had been done to determine how people in the country or region would be affected.

 Ms Wilson said: “How will it work with the persons on medical leave? Has the banking leave days been adjusted? What about deductions for loans and mortgage payments? Do you know that the new Oracle system has already had many glitches as teachers try to enroll? They were able to see other individuals’ personal information? Mr Prime Minister, you’re now touching the workers’ money. This idea of bi-weekly salary payments must be reviewed and revised, and I’m urging you, sir, to meet with the unions.” 

 Mr Davis said the change in payments would help small businesses “which rely on the uptick in economic and financial activity fuelled by government workers.”

 Mr Ferguson, however, said while he wants businesses to thrive, it “cannot be done by sacrificing public servants.”

 “It’s disappointing. It’s disrespectful,” he said. “This particular administration apparently has been having a disregard for things agreed to in the various industrial agreements between unions and the government and they’re doing what they feel like without consultation.”

 Mr Davis said the government’s Cloud Bahamas project would also address other issues facing government employees, such as long-term pay discrepancies and employee accountability.

 However, Mr Ferguson said he knows little about the project or how it works.

 “Somebody called me and indicated that employees now have to input information into a system,” he said. “I heard that there are employees who have been trying to get online to do these things forever and not only that, this adds insult to injury.

 “These people have placed a deadline on the fact that if persons don’t get in, they won’t be paid. They are looking for a national riot in this country.” 

 Last week, Mr Davis announced that public sector salaries would be reviewed because they are too low.

 The administration has budgeted $10m for this review.

 Mr Davis said this money would be used to compensate hard-working employees, not for a private company to perform the review. 

“If we do not offer salaries at competitive rates, people will not want to work in the public service,” he said. “If we do not offer salaries at competitive rates, people will not stay in the public service. Salaries must keep pace with inflation and be at a level which is competitive and fair.”

 In a statement over the weekend, the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) questioned how the salary review would be used to “support the increased effectiveness and efficiency of government services.”