Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has raised concerns about the growing pay gap among middle managers in the public service, arguing that the government’s salary review created unfair disparities that risk demotivating skilled officers.
Walwyn said the recent review, led by the Deputy Governor’s Office and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), resulted in large pay increases for junior officers while providing minimal changes for middle and senior management.
“The way that the increases were given seemed to be somewhat, a bit, unfair to those persons who are in the middle of the scale,” Walwyn stated. “Persons at the lower end of the civil service, in some cases, got 100% increase in their salaries. The middle and the top, to some extent, a corresponding amount was not done.”
He added that the imbalance could weaken morale and leadership within the service.
“You have people who are very senior middle managers who saw little to no increase in their salary,” he explained. “The future of the civil service really lies within the middle management, and you want those brains to be able to make it to the top to help to move the country forward.”
The salary review, which was introduced last year to modernise the government’s pay structure and bring parity with similar Caribbean administrations, has faced criticism from public officers who said it left some staff worse off.
It is not immediately clear how the government plans to address the anomalies and whether this might be done through future reviews.
Walwyn also noted that retirees were excluded from the review, even as living costs continue to climb.
“You can imagine somebody who would have retired 25 years ago still living on that salary that they had, on the pension that they had 25 years ago, but the prices of things are going up every day,” he stated.
He said the Opposition will question the Deputy Governor’s Office during upcoming Standing Finance Committee sessions to ensure the issue is properly addressed.
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