NASSAU, Bahamas, The Bahamas government has hinted at the possibility of paying increased salaries to public servants before the start of the Christmas holidays amid concerns raised by the Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU).
BPSU president Kimsley Ferguson, speaking on a radio program here, said that the union had sent a letter to the Office of the Prime Minister at the start of the month. However, there has been no response to date.
But Public Service Minister Pia Glover-Rolle said that the government is aiming to roll out the proposed salary increases before the holidays and that it has submitted a proposal to the BPSU and is awaiting a response.
“We have submitted a proposal to the BPSU and are awaiting their response. The Labour Relations Unit remains ready to sit at the negotiation table with the BPSU so we can finalize the details of an agreement as quickly as possible,” she told The Tribune newspaper.
The government is reported to be proposing up to five increments in the first year as a result of the minimum wage increase to an estimated 2,000 public servants.
“We remain hopeful that the proposed increases can be rolled out for public servants prior to the holidays,” Glover-Rolle said, adding that the proposal to the BPSU was the best possible offer the government could make at this time.
However, Ferguson told radio listeners that the lower end of the scale is going to be disadvantaged.
“It’s my job and my responsibility to ensure that the entire bargaining unit is dealt with fairly and not to particularly agitate for one grouping and leave the other grouping undone. And so, I need people to understand this. We don’t want to leave our brothers behind,” he added.
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