Teachers to be Paid Using SmartStream System Soon

Joseph Waight

Earlier in the year, it was announced that the government will begin making moves to incorporate the over five thousand teachers into the SmartStream payroll system. The Ministry of Finance planned to fully make the incorporation by October 2018, but there have been certain setbacks according to Financial Secretary Joseph Waight. The ministry is aiming for December to complete the transfer of data and have teachers fully enrolled in the SmartStream system. This means that teachers will no longer be paid through the various church-state managements, giving the ministry full control. COLA had warned the teachers that the new system will put teachers directly in the firing line when it came to moves to organize industrial action, leaving them vulnerable to salary deductions. But according to the Financial Secretary, the move is being made for the sake of efficiency.

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary

“October has come and gone. We are aiming now for December and in fact we have a team at the Ministry loading individuals’ information into the SmartStream so that they can be on the payroll. It is a little bit of a hill to climb but once we are on it should go very smoothly and take a lot of the drudgery out of having to simply doing it by hand.”

Reporter

“How many teachers are we talking about?”

Joseph Waight

“Oh boy, a few thousands to start with.  I don’t have an exact figure. Some of them are already one that is the government schools and so. So these are basically the denominational schools.”

Hipolito Novelo

“And this is basically for efficiency?”

Joseph Waight

“It is an efficiency move. I mean it makes life a lot easier once you are in the payroll system then you would not have to make a change. It should go a lot quicker, more accurate, less mistake. So it is a positive move.”