By Hon. Pia Glover-Rolle
Minister of Labour and the Public Service
STATEMENT: The Ministry of Labour and the Public Service can confirm the on-time payment of public service increments scheduled for the month of July.
We note the concerns expressed by a small segment of public servants that incremental increases were not accurately reflected in their monthly pay. However, upon further examination, it appears the simultaneous rollout of the NIB rate increase and the corresponding impact it would have on the amounts posted to their accounts was not fully considered by some.
We advise all public servants to ensure they are taking into account all related salary deductions, inclusive of NIB, when calculating their expected monthly compensation. For any persons who may have been inadvertently excluded from receiving payments due to systemic issues, we will address these select cases as a matter of urgency.
Additionally, as annual increments are intended to mitigate the impact of inflation on public servant pay, we also note the need to review this situation to ensure that the current increment schedule is having the intended impact.
The government is currently conducting a salary review across the public service. At the end of this process, salary adjustments will be rolled out to reflect our objective of maintaining competitive compensation and benefits for all public servants. As a part of this review process, we will take concerns such as the impact of the NIB rate increase, inflation, and other pressing issues into account. Ultimately, our objective is to ensure that public servant wages reflect the reality of living in a 21st century Bahamas.
I have reached out to the President of the Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU), Kimsley Ferguson, to clarify this matter. In the meantime, we will continue to expedite our agenda, which has included salary increases for thousands of public servants through 32 successfully negotiated labour agreements, the minimum wage increase, and over two thousand promotions throughout the public service. More information will be made available on the planned salary increases as the public service salary review nears completion.
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