Clarke boosts Budget by $10b to settle new public sector salaries
Published:Wednesday | March 1, 2023 | 1:32 AM
The Government has allocated $10.1 billion in the Fourth Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for payments to public sector workers under the compensation restructuring programme.
At the same time, capital expenditure has been cut by $5.8 billion in the new estimates for the current financial year.
With the increased allocation pushing the Budget for 2022-2023 past the trillion-dollar mark, Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has urged the remaining public sector groups that have not yet reached an accord with the Government to come on board.
Debating the fourth supplementary estimates in the sum of $1.2 trillion in Gordon House on Tuesday, Clarke said that the House of Representatives has acted in good faith by tabling the money bill and getting it passed on the same day to allow payments to be made to government employees.
Some public sector groups have registered their displeasure with how the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service has handled the compensation restructuring exercise. Employees at the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) are the latest group to walk off the job showing their dissatisfaction with the alignment exercise.
But Clarke is apparently not surprised by the discontent shown by a small number of groups in the public sector.
He argued that holding talks with 140 public bodies from November 2022 to present “is going to lead to what we are experiencing”.
“We are displaying the courage to not walk by a structural problem that existed for far too long and gloss over it with a single increase that applies to all groups. Instead, we are doing the hard work, which is painstaking, which requires a lot of engagement across 140 public bodies. To get it done within November and March is, by definition, an arduous undertaking that we are committed to,” Clarke said.
Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson expressed concern about the process of negotiations between some of the public bodies and the finance ministry.
In his contribution to the debate, Robinson mentioned the protest action taken by workers at the RGD.
“They were communicated to that they would be placed at a particular level. There seems to have been a unilateral decision to move them to a level below. They sought clarification and did not get that, and as such, they resorted to industrial action,” said Robinson.
The opposition spokesman said he has received too many complaints from public sector workers who claim that the finance ministry was lethargic in responding to correspondence sent to it. This, he said, has led to a significant degree of restiveness among several groups.
He urged Clarke to ensure that there is adequate and timely communication with the various groups.
To date, two major Government-paid groups – public sector teachers and the police – are yet to settle with the finance ministry.
In an earlier presentation in Parliament, Clarke had warned that there was no room in the 2023-2024 Budget to accommodate payments to public sector groups that have not signed the compensation restructuring agreement before the end of the current financial year.