Increments announced for civil servants, wage earners and MPs, and minimum wage rate to go up to $5 an hour

Pay increments for civil servants and those in the independent institutions, the increase in salaries and benefits of Members of Parliament, the President and the Speaker, and a new national minimum wage rate of $5 have been announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad in the 2024/2025 National Budget.

Professor Prasad says they are announcing a major pay rise for our civil servants, which will inject almost $85 million into the pockets of our around 42,000 public sector employees. This pay rise ranges from 7 percent up to 20 percent depending on the salary bands.

He says unfortunately, the civil service has suffered from years of neglect with stagnant remuneration and deteriorating employment conditions.

Professor Prasad adds the civil service also suffered from lack of investment in adequate training, capacity building and poor succession planning.

He says under the disguise of OMRS, many career civil servants were denied promotions while those without any experience in the civil service were prioritized for senior leadership positions.

Professor Prasad says the 2013 constitutional provisions that removed the central oversight and establishment control of the civil service away from the Public Service Commission to respective Permanent Secretaries led to an uncontrolled growth in the size of the civil service.

He says today we have more than 42,000 publicly funded employees, including around 38,000 in the civil service and almost 4,000 in independent institutions and state funded entities. This comes at a huge cost of around $1.2 billion.

From 1st August 2024, all the salary based civil servants will receive a pay rise of around 7 percent to 10 percent while the wage earners will get an increment ranging from 10 percent up to 20 percent.

For example, the lowest wage in the civil service on Band A will be increased from $4.60 an hour to $5.60 an hour, an increase of 20 percent. Those on Band B receiving $6.27 an hour on step 3, will get a 16 percent increase, with a new hourly rate of $7.27. For our drivers who are currently getting $7.33 per hour on Band C, step 3, they will have their rates increased to $8.33 per hour, an increase of around 14 percent.

For the salary based civil servants, they will do this in a slightly different way. Given that around 5,000 of our civil servants have already had step movements in the last few months, all other 33,000 civil servants will also be given a salary increase and adjustment. For clarity, the increased salary for the 5,000 civil servants who got an early pay rise will continue.

Apart from this, Professor Prasad says they are also accommodating the pay rise of some of our independent institutions that have not had their Job Evaluation Exercise and a salary adjustment since 2017. This includes the Parliament staff, Legal Aid Commission, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Office of the Auditor-General.

Following a Job Evaluation Exercise recently, they are also providing an additional $12 million to cater for the salary increase for the officers at Fiji Corrections Service and an additional $2 million to hire 81 new staff. Following this major salary adjustment exercise in the civil service, they will work with the Australian Government to undertake a holistic functional review of the civil service establishment and salary structure across public entities.

Professor Prasad says there is an urgent need to bring parity in the salaries of publicly funded employees and right size the establishment.

He says at the same time, they need a new and effective Performance Management System in the civil service.

They are also exploring options for a medical insurance scheme for civil servants.

While confirming the budget for the increase, Professor Prasad says the overall increase in cost for the increase in the salaries and benefits of the Members of Parliament, President and Speaker is $4.2 million, not $8.1 million. He says if adjusted for the 20 percent COVID pay cut, the increase is in fact $1.4 million.

However he says as a Coalition Government, they agree that there must be a qualified and independent emoluments committee in future, a reasonable period for public consultation and careful consideration by MPs of the example they are setting, given their unique ability to vote for their own pay.

He says they believe that future emoluments review of MPs to be determined by an independent emoluments committee to be appointed by a resolution of parliament.

Professor Prasad also reveals that the national minimum wage will be increased to $5 per hour.

The actual implementation will be undertaken in 2 phases. Effective from 1st August 2024, the national minimum wage will be increased to $4.50 an hour with a further increase to $5.00 an hour effective from 1st April 2025.

In tandem, the 10 sectoral wages will also increase. Effective from 1st August 2024, all sectoral wages will increase by 50 cents across the board, followed by a further 50 cents from 1st April 2025.

For example, a cashier who is currently earning $4.44 an hour will have his or her minimum wage increase to $4.94 from 1st August 2024 and to $5.44 from 1st April 2025. A foreman in the construction industry currently on $6.54 will have his or her minimum wage increase to $7.54 from 1st April 2025.

He urges all our employers to ensure that correct minimum wages are paid to their workers and the Ministry of Employment will be closely monitoring to ensure full compliance.

The Coalition Government together with the Fiji Trades Union Congress and Fiji Mine Workers Union, have finally reached a resolution with a total payout of $9.2 million.

Each of the 368 mining workers on strike from 1991 will be paid $25,000, with the first $10,000 paid from this Budget and the remainder of $15,000 paid from the 2025-2026 Budget.