DG begs cash for CS workers
(CNS): Although the deputy governor is at the centre of government’s cost cutting exercise he went to bat for civil servants on Monday when he made a short contribution to the budget debate and asked for the return of the 3.2% cost of living allowance (COLA) taken from public sector workers as part of the ongoing austerity measures. Franz Manderson explained that the pay rise freeze and COLA cut had not only created hardship but had led to serious inequities in the system, with new civil servants in some fields coming in on higher salaries than those serving for many years. He also warned that the austerity measures could not continue for much longer without the quality of services government provides being compromised.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly about the government’s 2013/14 budget, he said that this spending plan was “very credible and sustainable” but was not without its challenges and it would be the civil servants who would be expected to deliver on the spending plan. As government will have a healthy surplus, he encouraged the elected members to find a way to give back the COLA at the end of the year.
“People say government should be run like a business, and if they really agree, in any public company which managed to deliver $100 million plus surplus you would reward the employees,” he added. Manderson asked members to think about that at the end of the financial year when the CS delivered that anticipated surplus, pointing out that they would be blamed if they didn’t deliver. Challenging the CS to work harder with less, he said that if they did they should be rewarded.
On the controversial issue of accountancy and transparency for civil servants Manderson said that he was driving that issue forward and performance agreements were now in place for all public sector employees and performance assessments had now been completed for the last financial year. He pointed to the importance of managers who do the assessments to be truthful.
“Unless we are truthful and tell people who are not performing or doing a good job, there won’t beany improvement,” he said, noting that assessments would be audited. He admitted it would take time but the service would get to the point of real accountability.
The issue was brought to the fore during the debate when Ezzard Miller asked who it was in the civil service that had dropped the ball regarding the situation relating to the failure to enforce the pensions law and who had taken the wrap for it.
The independent member for North Side said that there were specific people in the public sector who were charged in the pension unit to perform a function, and while the state of delinquency may have emerged over a long time, he asked how government could allow “people to be so incompetent and still reward those civil servants and members of boards and the unit who were specifically charged and paid.”
Miller said the ones who had failed needed to be identified and terminated. “I ask the deputy governor that something will be done about this kind of incompetence. People are paid to do this job, and regardless of what the minister does it won’t fix the situation if we don’t address this.”
Manderson said he disagreed with the member as the civil servants had done a tremendous amount of work to address the problem and had acted on the “vast majority of recommendations made by the complaints commissioner,” though in reality less than half of those recommendations have been implemented.
The deputy governor said that he was doing his best to drive accountability and performance and he intended to speak to the relevant chief officer, and if civil servants were found not to be performing then action would be taken.
With civil services costs down $13 million in this budget over the last, then the CS would need to be more efficient than ever as it continued to do more with less without compromising services. However, Manderson emphasised the toll the austerity measures, including the pay freeze, the moratorium on jobs and the loss of the COLA, had taken. He warned that the inequities in pay, with people joining after 2007 earning more than ones already working there had to be addressed and government was at the limit of the measures it could now impose without major change.
“The austerity measures can’t continue much longer without impacting service quality,” he said. “Government is looking at other ways of reducing costs and at the structure,” he added, pointing to possible amalgamations, privatization and other structural changes. The deputy governor said that the UK had offered to assist with expertise in this assessment and to help make the critical decisions before the next budget.
Defending the extensive criticism of the police during the budget debate in light of the escalation of violent crime in recent weeks, Manderson said Cayman couldn’t arrest itself out of the crime problem and government and the community had to focus on much more extensive programmes to address the crime problem.
“Crime is everyone’s problem and we must act that way and challenge everyone to get involved and be a mentor,” he said, noting the importance of people reporting what they know about criminality.
Category: Politics
I wish this man would sit down and stop talking crap. Instead of whining about giving back the COLA he should be working with his heads of department to get rid of the dead weights instead of encouraging their remaining. When he had done that then he can come asking for the reinstatement of the COLA for the good hard working people who are in the Civil Service.
You talking 'bout me??? You talking about me?? You MUST Be talking about me, because I'm the only one here…
perhaps you were taling about DinEro…
Nominate a colleague for involuntary redundancy and set out a business case. If the person is fired then you can claim 10% of their pay check the following year. This is a great way to reduce costs and instill some higher productivity.
This is nonsense to me. I think the surplus resulted from heavier taxation onthe tax payer and not from government efficiency and cost cutting. I do agree that this cola would need to be restored in the future but it would have to be restored based on performance. Performance must be measurable and auditable. Wasn't there a budget article which stated that cs budget would be reduced this year but that reduction would be expensed somewhere else within govt such that total govt expense is consistent to last year?
Let's reward those cs employees who bring implementable ideas to the forefront which result in more efficient services. Let's reward those cs employees who far exceed their performance benchmarks. Let's reward those departments which receive unqualified opinions from auditor general in 2014.
So far what I see is 100m additional tax taken out of the taxpayer pocket which is being used to insinuate that it results from better csperformance. Nonsense.
This message is for the coward who goes by the name Foreign Devil, remember where you are living. This is a small country so watch you're mouth boy and remember that you are a guest here.
Sorry but no pay increases at this time…
Our CS have been paid too much, for being too inefficient., for too long.
And there is too much of you too…
wrong again – its not a pay incease its a return of a cost of living increase that was taken away! will somone please just read and increase your knowledge for making stupid posts…yawn!
We need more De Niro man…..Cayman cost of living gettin' too expensive. No saving once i pay CUC, Medical, pensions, Mortgage, Digicel BBM.Miami trip excetera.
De Niro? Why not Al Pacino?
So why are they paying new employees more than existing employees for the same job at the same grade?
Becausethey have to compete with private sector pay scales.
I, a former civil servant in Cayman, gave myself a significant raise by leaving the civil service for the private sector.
This is a civil service mentality that needs to be checked.
Why would they have to compete with the private sector? Which govt. in the world pays the same as the private sector? The private sector is in the business of making profits and if it is profitable it can pay higher salaries as an incentive to further increase profitability. Not so with the civil service or the Govt.
Paying new employees more? Just put a stop to that and not use it as justification to raise the pay of the old employees. That is an easy fix.
Do any of you know what it has been like being a teacher here over the last 10 years?, where pay increments have been denied and when we did finally get a COLA it was given taken away given again and taken away again. YESteachers are civil servants but we have one very responsible job that needs to be recognised by at least keeping our salaries in line with inflation.
I am at least 30% lower paid than i was 10 years ago( in real terms) and Government wonder why they cannot attract the top teachers to these paradise islands!!
Referring to the comment by the teacher, how do we expect to keep effective, highly motivated teachers who will help Cayman produce the well educated and rounded students this country needs now and in the future! Every year their salary is eaten up more and more by inflation. The politicians are not civil servants they are free to have business, and they are well paid and even increased their own pay not long ago. Wake up and do something for your country even if it means giving up some our your MLA pay.
No. Keep the pay freeze in place and reduce numbers..
Unfortunately, the civil service has become a “make jobs” program designed to provide living wage employment for Caymanians who want office jobs but would otherwise be unable to secure such employment in the private sector.
I guess we really need to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of unnecessary civil servants versus unemployed persons on welfare. On balance the former is probably the least worst option but, either way, the taxpayers have to bear the cost. And pay the price.
i am not looking for an easy job sir. i am looking to work in an envioronment where the human element exist. i have worked in your beloved private sector which defaults on pension payments, expects employees to pay their own work permit, and one who's opinion is money over substance. so yes, preach from your gray mountain and suggest we are not good enough or that the govt is oversized. (honestly cant believe we are blaming govt for this international fiasco that our financial industries help create-fact!).
now we are going after the few dollars we offer in social service assitance-what kind of people are we becoming? we have accomadated a sector which works with billions of dollars a day, and we still have social issues. seems someone isnt paying their FAIR due! honestly, people like you remind me of thatcher. that horrible disgusting english witch that went as far as saying "there is no such thing as society" conveying that social assitance was flawed. well we see what is happening to that beloved gray island since this philosphy became the norm.
point is we keep care of ours(including you one day) regardless if you think its a burden sir!
its austerity…..franz style!……. zzzzzzzzzzz
read the miller shaw report!!!!!
you can zzzzzzzzzzzzzz because the civil servants are up watching over you. The flawed Miller Shaw report recommended that the civil servants costs be reduced. this budget is 20 million less than last year- hellooooo wake up. Moreover the personell costs have been reduced by a whopping 13 million and you want MORE blood. Next year the civil servants will get their 3.2 cut back- they deserve it.
Goverment need to recentralize its HR and FINANCE operations. It will reduce expat HR and FiNANCE personnel by non renewal of their contracts. Reduce Portfolio of the Civil Service to a small department or unit. Reestablish Public Service Commission which will prevent the biasness that is taking place in the Civil Service, just as it is happening in the private sector. This will be the only fair method of employment and promotions to senior positions in the civil service.
If you have actually read the Miller Shaw report how do you swallow their proposal to sell entities such as Cayman Airways with the fact that they regularly lose money so no one would want to buy them? Miller & Shaw came here with an agenda, wrote their report to recomend what they already believed and then moved on. Leaving us holding the bill for something no one with sense who actually read it thought was useful. Or they'd have used it. But, funnilly enough, the first name on the report allways gets dropped. (Not sure what I'm talking about? Go and actually read the report.)
if they are under so much hardship why don't they leave and get a real job in the private sector….
They can't. They did not properly enforce the Immigration Law and so none of the jobs that would be available to them are there anymore.
Apparently you have to work like 5 days a week in the private sector and they sometimes think you should stay past 4.59. You can't even get days off for heavy rain. I know it sounds unbelievable but it is true.
real job in this private sector? hahaha you need to get of your high horse buddy. this private sector is devolving faster than the public sector. this private sector is very corrupt. this private sector is far from efficent in the macro economic sense. this private sector is outsourcing and defacing the local from oppurtunity through propoganda and cheap rhetoric.this private sector specifically has contributed to the fall of the global economy in a grand scale! nah- im better off offering my services to a cause only the govermnet can-in areas of social work, law enforcment, law, infastructure development, and care. tell me my friend whats so wrong with this public sector?
Because some of us believe in trying to work for the betterment of our country. But we believe we should be paid fairly for it. After the pay cut Civil Servants (single working mothers) had to go to Social Service for support. Are you proud of that?
I fail to see how a mere 3.2% can have the hyperbolic effect you state.
So what about Alden's assurance to the civil service that there would be no cuts. Can someone please tell me who is really in charge. If it isn't the politicians why have elections every 4 years at a cost of $1.5M. Why bother with politicians if they don't really make the decisions. I say close the Elections Office and the LA and send these worthless people home if the show (MAIN EVENT) is really being runby the Governor and the FCO. We could save some money there.
Those cuts are McKeeva’s cuts.
Politians are not i charge, w place them there to set budgets and introduce new laws on the suggestions from the civil service. The Boss is the Governor and deputy od civil service. Franz has been charge to reduce his budgets due to the infructruture completed and expansion of the civil service by probably 10-15%. the only way to accoplish this is to retire persons over sixty, cut expat jobs on the CS (which is were i would start), as well as other spending… DONT BE FOOLED THE PREMIER IS NOT REALLY IN CHARGE!!!!
What are you talking about? This isn't about the PPM seeking any new cuts. Franz is seeking to reinstated the COLA that was taken back by the UDP govt.
Is Mr Miller suggesting Caymanians are fired for not doing their jobs or is he hoping that it is "furriners" who are the guilty ones?
such a primiative racist statment. didnt have anything smart to add huh? Pathetic
what is primiative?
Franz is a decent guy but he's tone deaf. He doesn't seem to realise that no matter how reasonable his comments about civil servants are, the country is hurting economically and the image of the civil service (and it is by no means 100% accurate) is one of free medical (true), free pension (true), huge salaries (only true at the very top), lazy workers (not all true, many are good workers), poor service (some of it true but not all), jobs for life (not true nowadays, you can be fired but Caymanians don't like firing each other). This is not the time to ask for that money to be restored, Franz.
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
Who you talking to, 18:03?
What are you saying- the Government intends to have a $100 million surplus and this is not the right time to GIVE BACK money they they took from Civil Servants- when is the right time? Of course the 3.2% should be given back at the end of this financial year. Come on folks – would you want you company to have such a significant profit margin and not give back your salary cut. Private sector companies give huge bonuses when they make much less of a profit.
The beat up on civil servants just for the fun of it is really starting to bore me and is shamefull.
It is time for a different system-give it to those who hit targets and actually manage to improve the service and cut bureaucracy…
That is just it. They INTEND to have a surplus; it has not actually materialozed yet. Show me the surplus and only then should you get your COLA back.
Good idea. Oh, look, there was a surplus this year as well. Time to give some of it back bo-bo. Come on, pony up. you said you would.
The surplus is simply what is projected; it has not yet been realised. May be if you work really hard to ensure it happens you will get your COLA back next year.
Bonuses in the private sector are based on individual performance, not simply corporate performance.
WHY are we talking about firing ONLY Caymanians?
Is the civil service made up of only Caymanians?
Are Caymanians (the few that are guilty) the only civil servants who fall short in their job performance?
Why is it that Caymanians civil servants are ALWAYS the target and must always be the ones who suffer for government cutting costs measures?
STOP, take a look at All THE FOREIGNERS (and NO I am not anti foreigners). But consider this they come here, a majority with inflated resumes, inflated egos, and do an inferior job while making the Caymanian look like the inferior employee and they are REWARDED for it by huge salaries, massive benefits and YES, THE SECURITY OF A JOB, all because they are NOT Caymanians.
The Caymanian civil servants must live, raise their families, pay their bills and scrape by on little of nothing while the foreign civil servants make a fortune!
NOW ALL OF YOU LOUD MOUTHS, tell me where there is equality in that? Please tell me!
8:12, how many "b"s in bozo?
You are rewarded on your merit in the Private sector, not the way the Dep Guv wants it. This will not only be the same thing in a different day. We all must bite the bullet in this period of austerity where measures which are being taken by all and sundry,why not the Civil Service.
Deputy Gov either we are all in this together to a better place or the Civil Service will forever be obtaining what they want by groaning and moaning.( beginning to sound like a police siren wann wan wan) , and remember, there are over 1,500 unemployed, do they want to join that line or act as a replacement to those currently on the line. Well?
rubbish- 15:04 the Dep Governor is leading the way in reducing the cost of the civil service- where have you been living???? Have you studied this year budget??? look 20 million in cuts!
Just answer me this, if a law firm makes 20million profit, should they pay bonuses or keep the money in the company?
Er..dunno…you tell us
Only to those who perform. Govt. is not a law firm. You do not work like lawyers in a law firm. Please do not make ridiculous comparisons.
Actually, the rules did say 'reward the good performers'. But that has been ignored since before the ink dried. Since the Government has not seen fit to introduce performance based pay the only thing they have left is to restore the pay they cut under the claim of 'no cash' now that the budget is not just balanced but in surplus. The budget isn't even passed and the Minister for Tourism is signing large contracts with lawyers to build docks before the review to see if a dock is really justified is even finished. But the Civil Service can't get their pay back to the levels they contracted for? (When subsequent foreign hires after the pay cut have been paid 'higher scale' to make the posts 'attractive'.) And you want to talk about unfair.
This is definitely a step in the right direction but what about the other two or 3 cost of living adjustments that should have been given by now? Let alone any kind of raise for good performance. I for one am tired about the achieving civil servant being caught up in the blame for all of the country's problems. We have sacrificed more than long enough and appreciate the DG going to bat for us.
Forget the rhetoric about rewarding performance – throwing away money on needless overhead for any business is like flushing it down the toilet.Think about recognising good performance in other ways that may eventually result in a promotion etc. rather than handing out wage increases to both good and mediocre emplyees.
While it is fair to reward good performance in boom times, it would be interesting to see whether the private sector has been able to afford any COL allowances to staff over the past 5 years. My guess is that few in this community have had any increase at all in recent history and most of us feel lucky to have a salary at all. In fact the other current story about pension payment defaults is probably a strong enough indication that employers are not making ends meet and in effect have given employees reductions in salaries. Part of the reason for government showing a surplus is due to increases in government fees, which further tax the private sector and make any profitability difficult. Like the rest of us, government had better save that "surplus" for paying off it's conveniently forgotten debts….like the rest of us.
Actually many of the other large employers have continued to pay top salaries, not cut their staff's pay, and are still doing so. And are still poaching staff from the Civil Service. This disparity is getting worse as the global economy begins to stutter forwards. What you will see, if Government does not rectify its wages is it will be harder and harder to attract and retain good workers. There is already the dichotomy, as the DG pointed out, of long-serving staff being paid less than new hires doing similar jobs, because the new people said 'I can get more than this in the private sector; better make it a better offer'.
Well done Mr Deputy Governor Frank. Please do it quick before we all retire. Thanks and keep up the good work.God bless.
This is exactly why cayman is in trouble there is no serious commitment to cost containment by those in charge.
no we are in trouble because of the financial system, and its long arm of greed! do you get out much?
This is exactly why Cayman is in trouble. People with no comprehension capabilites. When the cost containment the Civil Service has undertaken results in a huge surplus for government there is no longer any justification to cut their salaries because the government is broke. It isn't. (Though it will be the way they are spending money on 'consultants and professional services' for the new dock. But thats money going to the well off private sector, not the middle class civil servants, so none of you complain about that.)
Read Charles Dickens, Little Dorritt, Chapter 10
Containing the whole Science of Government
The Circumlocution Office was (as everybody knows without being
told) the most important Department under Government. No public
business of any kind could possibly be done at any time without the
acquiescence of the Circumlocution Office. Its finger was in the
largest public pie, and in the smallest public tart. It was
equally impossible to do the plainest right and to undo the
plainest wrong without the express authority of the Circumlocution
Office. If another Gunpowder Plot had been discovered half an hour
before the lighting of the match, nobody would have been justified
in saving the parliament until there had been half a score of
boards, half a bushel of minutes, several sacks of official
memoranda, and a family-vault full of ungrammatical correspondence,
on the part of the Circumlocution Office.
It may have been Victorian Civil Service, but nothing changes.
I would suggest he take this one step further and tie pay increases/bonuses to cost saving targets achieved. There are many examples of this having been done all over the world.
This would immediately change the mindset of many civil servants from use it or loose it to don't spend it if we don't absolutely need it.
Sigh, If you read you will notice that the cost saving targets have already been met. So yes, lets tie rolling back the pay CUT to the cost savings targets. The Civil Service did its part, now its time for Government to pony up.
Well many in the Private sector haven't had an increase in years either due to the high operating costs of the government. Until the situation is rectified I don't see why extra money for increasing the cost of living is justified.
simple if COLA come back to Civil service then let have work permits fees cut which it can give private sector pay rise which many people didn’t have pay rise for years.
This again? This gov't is so full of innovative ideas. Yawn
The Civil Service needs to also be accountable for being a fast track to PR and Status too and THIS IS A COST to our entire society.
Every department I see has long perm expats (contracts renewed without question!) and instead of re-instating COLA I think that money shoul be used on an employee shadow training budget so in 2-3 years time, a Caymanian can be installed to replace the Civil Service expat and we get back to 89% locals employed in Govt.
We have Disaster trained clever persons who cannot break into Hazzard Management, we have IT savvy degreed Caymanians locked out of Govt Computer Services, We have local youth who want to train in Nursing and Hospital Admin but HSA is expat contract heavy, We have locals interested in Surveying and Lands, but no apprentice programs, the list goes on and on! Our unemployment and opportunities for youth breaking into decent jobs problem will only get worse if we keep locking out our own when they do take the time to get qualified.
Franz, every time a CS contract comes up, it needs to be advertised like the private sector!
Teach a man to fish….CS needs to sweep the house of overseas employees (yes, we DO appreciate you very much thank you, but we do need to look after our own) train our youth, reduce costs, try to migrate employees into the private sector, and be more accountable for expenses and expat work contracts.
Keep tightening the belt Franz- and now the contract employee paperwork too.(Reduce costs by moving expenses, adding families onto health care, etc…)
Also look into why we have expat Accountants in government, when we have so many unemployed? Plus certain Ministries keep moving staff between departments and Ministry with more than one expat coming form department.
Probably cuz they are more capable
You are mis-informed. Every time a CS contract comes up it is advertised BY LAW. Please present an actual example of a case where that hasn't happened. You are further misinformed by thinking that the belt-tightening will somehow help produce jobs. When the Departments cut staff it was the lowest rungs that got cut first. Which can you most afford to lose? The worker or the trainee? Yes, its short-sighted for the country, but the cuts are short-sighted. They were supposed to be short-term. Now the Service has reached the point where not only can it not employee trainees but its having a hard time retaining workers as well. Because they can make more in the private sector. Especially for skilled jobs like surveyors or computer technicians. (Every bank has an IT department, remember.) And the Civil Service has produced a budget surplus. So its now time to reinvest that back in the people, or continue to watch the house of cards teeter on the brink of collapse.
If you cut all CS salaries by 20 percent not one CS would leave. It would still be the sweetest gig in the Cayman Island, overpaid underworked.
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
Once there are proper accounts and a delivered surplus, maybe then make a case, but until then shut up. And anyway it is the private sector that has paid for everything by paying the increased costs. Progress, if there has been any, on balancing the books has been made despite the failures of civil servants to properly engage in number reduction.
Please be realistic. There is no cost saving in this budget, all accounting tricks.
the 100 million is basically coming from increased fees introduced by UDP that now have a full year impact and are killing the financial industry.
of course a company that makes such a profit should share and if it was 100 million of cost savings all civil service should get a bump, but is not. Fees should be reduced back inline with our competitors before is too late, not spent in staff costs and sister island airports
"Rap" not "wrap" which is an entirely different thing!
But what about their pension and health being paid 100% by government? That is a big savings for them. Please leave it as it is.
The Civil Service pays their half of the pension. Anyone telling you otherwise, ask them to prove it. I have asked and they can't. – The health coverage is part of the remuneration package. Don't beat them up because our employers take advantage of us. I've sen other 'gold' private health coverage that is just as good and paid for by the employer as a 'hiring incentive'.
The civil servant does NOT pay half their pension BOZO. Never have. It's on your pay slip but you dont lose the amount of the contribution from your take home pay like everyone else in this world. Government pays your share. If you cannot understand that, it explains a lot about why we have such poor performers in the civil service. Please stop embarrassing the civil servants by showing your limited brain power.
Compromise the quality of CS services? Is he for real? A lot of the CS needs privatising, and it further needs to be cut back with motivated performing workers being paid a lot more than they are now. Theexcruciating bureaucracy needs to be removed and (as has been promised) much more needs to be done online as it is most everywhere else, whether it is driving licenses, applications for police clearance,..whatever..it could be so good…
i prefer my chances with this government that somewhat cares from me socially than a private sector that wants to chop things down. fact is unless you have money you cant afford anything good in the private sector.. will they change this, because if not then whats the difference to the people who actually need this goverments direction and assitance?
They need to give it back because shopping etc is sky high!