Increments for Public Officers and Teachers to Resume in April

Prime Minister John Briceño

Increments for teachers and public officers will resume at the start of the next fiscal year, on April first, but it hasn’t been without much back and forth between the unions and the government.  Both entities are set to meet on Thursday to finalize the return of the annual wage adjustment.  Ahead of that meeting which will see the Briceño administration being represented by Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde and Minister of Public Service Henry Charles Usher, we spoke with P.M. Briceño to get his take on the issue.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Yes, we have said it many times, from last year.  In December, I told the unions that we are prepared to unfreeze the increment freeze that we have so that then our government employees can expect increments.  There are a lot of good workers that deserve an increment, but also there are a number of them that don’t deserve an increment.  And that is the position I’ve been selling to the unions, that an increment is not an increase in salary.  An increment should be given based on performance and that is where I guess the unions don’t like when I mention that.”

Henry Charles Usher

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of the Public Service

“We expect the meeting tomorrow to be our usual length that we had in 2021.  The last meeting that we had two weeks ago was about four hours and we expect tomorrow’s meeting to go a bit longer and, as you said, words have meaning.  I think it’s important for both sides to come to the table, as we’ve always done and certainly the main issues will be discussed tomorrow.  I think that we are very close in terms of what each side wants to achieve.  The issue of the increments is one that the government has already gone on record to say that the upcoming fiscal year, the resumption of the increments and so, certainly, that’s an issue.  The issue of the pension reform as well.”