Wrong way to hike salaries

WHILE THERE are unsettled salary negotiations with those paid by the state, some outstanding for more than a decade, it would be grossly self-serving and negligent for the government to reward itself with salary increases.

There might be value in the recommendations: for example MPs function on remuneration that is undisputedly low in comparison to their responsibilities, but the government would have to be completely oblivious to national sentiment to think that there is consensus on rewarding their stewardship.

There is not a single citizen who doesn’t think crime is completely out of control, and that the government has totally failed in this regard. The numbers are unarguable. The fear is palpable. The risk is real. The issue is a national crisis.

Others who pay attention will have seen our debt spiralling upward, increasing the burden on taxpayers and on whatever foreign exchange we earn. We are living on borrowed money to hide how little economic productivity has increased over the last decade.

We have all watched the indignity of public workers, including nurses, teachers and police who play essential roles in our society, fight up for meagre salary increases, significantly below inflation, and then have to wait for years for their back pay.

The Prime Minister’s comments didn’t help. They showed a hubris which makes the disconnect between the top and the rest seem so big. The Salaries Review Commission did its work and made recommendations, and it’s easy to hide behind this bureaucratic decision and to cite its validity. Many commissions make valid recommendations which are dismissed and left to gather dust despite years of work and money spent. So it comes down to government priority.

Sometimes sensitivity to timing is necessary, as is making sure that everyone, whether supporter or not, can believe that fairness matters to decision-makers.

It should be that no one can say that their salary increases were paltry and less than deserved. No one should be able to say it took years of begging, striking and negotiating while they waited for the Minister of Finance to wake up ah morning and agree. No one should be able to say that they paid the price of the government’s poor budget balancing by having to do without because it was costing too much – not while every budget is delivered in a manner so self-congratulatory.

Delays in settling salary negotiations have real effects on people. There are investments they could have made, vehicles they could have bought, small businesses started, or mortgages they could have afforded. There are degrees they could have paid for and elders they could have supported.

Some nurses and police earn just enough to get through the month but cannot save. They bring real value to the people of the country, but that wasn’t enough to raise their salaries so significantly. I recognise that government salaries are low and cannot compete with the private sector. I think, however, that the government should be wary of anyone saying that it filled its own pockets first while, ironically, being the very individuals making others wait.

I also think that we should be aware of the history of leaders who have refused to increase their own take-home in times of economic precarity and reflect on the dismissiveness with which public sentiment is being treated.

For example, in October, the president of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu announced he would take a 50 per cent pay cut while mandating a ten per cent cut to public-sector jobs. In July, Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai announced that he would slash his salary by 40 per cent to set a precedent for “responsible governance” and demonstrate “solidarity” with Liberians.

Political leaders all over, from Brazil to New Zealand, have done the same, including during the pandemic, when ours did not.

There’s a way that a prime minister could have spoken on this issue that would have been received as respect and recognition, as understanding and connection, as concern rather than insensitivity. No one wants to deny anyone, including the PM, what has been waiting for over 13 years.

What workers would appreciate is being treated with the same urgency, the same sensitivity to their long wait, the same affirmation that they work hard and honestly, and are just as deserving.

The government could have used this moment to commit that those who are paid less will receive their lesser increases, and complete salary negotiations, before they take their greater one.

There are some basic ways a leader shows people matter when you all work for a better nation.

Diary of a mothering worker

Entry 546

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