By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

MORE than a hundred public servants marched on the House of Assembly yesterday over delayed or omitted salary increases, pressing up to police barricades before Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis emerged and told them: “You will be paid before Christmas.”

Chanting “we want our money right now,” members of the Bahamas Public Services Union and the Bahamas Union of Teachers moved through Bay Street, with some teachers reporting late to work in solidarity.

An audio clip circulating beforehand alleged the union acted over widening disparities between senior administrative officers, such as permanent secretaries, and lower-level staff, including janitors, messengers, and clerks, and pointed to unresolved promotions, transfers, reclassifications, unpaid overtime and hazard pay, and workers still paid weekly after decades in service.

At Rawson Square, union leaders urged members to sit calmly as they pushed for entry to Parliament. After initially being barred, they were later allowed into the gallery, where Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis joined them outside, assuring that payments would be made before Christmas and promising to meet with them by Monday.

The confrontation followed the government’s announcement that workers excluded from earlier adjustments would receive at least two increments in December, retroactive to September 1, 2025, with exact amounts varying by category. Officials said the move is intended to narrow gaps between public service pay and the wider public sector and noted base-pay gains of 8 to 31 percent over four years, with a 19 percent rise for college graduates, including graduate nurses and teachers. Phase one focused on middle management at the end of June; phase two covers the remainder of the service.

Privately, government officials note that the salary increases were not a part of any industrial agreement and workers were never entitled to them.

The administration previously set aside $10m in the Ministry of Finance for the salary review exercise flagged during budget debates, framing it as part of a broader effort to keep public sector wages competitive.

Union leaders said none of that justifies the lack of clarity now. Mrs Wilson said teachers “need clarity as to whether the teachers are being paid the salary increase,” adding she has not received the salary review report, Cabinet conclusions, or lists of which members will be paid, how much, and in which category, despite instructions “from September 3rd.” Mr Ferguson said aviation staff have not seen raises since 2019 and accused officials of moving goalposts on overtime, hazard pay, and long-outstanding promotions.

Yesterday, Public Service Minister Pia Glover-Rolle said payment mechanics lie with the Ministry of Finance, while her ministry processes pay and has made “significant progress” on legacy issues. She said there were no across-the-board public service pay increases between 2016 and the Davis administration’s steps, and noted that the December timeline was set due to the complexity of the review. She also said Mr Ferguson has missed recent scheduled meetings.

In the crowd, frustration was personal and immediate. Ministry of Education worker Angela Dames, who pays for private schooling for her child with ADHD, said she had counted on the increase: “I was depending on the little change, and it’s only little pocket change, and it’s unfair that y’all would have to pay the middle management, who already have money, and then want pay us chicken feed.”

BPSU vice-president Debra Foulke called the Prime Minister’s address “weak,” saying June payments to some middle managers only deepened confusion about who gets what and why.

Others described long-running limbo. Jessie Vincent, an employee with the Department of Environmental Health since 2008, said he is still paid weekly and was only “verbally” promoted without the salary to match.

Patrice Johnson, a janitor at H O Nash High School, said a 2021 promotion to clerk was later rescinded without explanation and that delaying the promised September increase “four days before payday” was “a slap in the face.”