SQUEEZE FOR MP, JUDGES

“You have to consider things like economic capacity to pay,” the chairman told reporters at President’s House moments after a new member of the SRC was sworn in. “Obviously it is not good. It is difficult to raise salaries in an economy that is not doing well.” Asked if the Commission takes economic factors into account when making its recommendations to Parliament, Rudden said, “Certainly, I would imagine, not having done the general review before, one of the factors you would consider would be the budgetary impact of any set of increases.” Asked if the SRC had any challenges, Rudden said, “One of the challenges is nobody is going to like what you say. It’s one of the few commissions that all Parliamentarians don’t like.” However, the chairman said there was no decision yet on any salary conditions.

Rather, international consultants continue to collect feedback from a range of stakeholders.

“International consultants Hay and Partners have been commissioned to do a job evaluation exercise for the 300-plus posts the SRC sets the salaries for, including parliamentarians, judges, senior civil servants, a lot of people,” he said.

“That is expected to finish next year and that is important because it’s been 15 years of more since people actually evaluated their jobs and that’s just one of the pieces of information that will go into recommendations for salary increases or not increases as the case may be.” In relation to MPs, he said, “Consultants were meeting with Parliamentarians to get their opinions as they met with the judges, commissioners and senior citizens.” At another point, he also said, “I don’t think anybody has ever asked for less money.” Former SRC member Monica Clement, who once served as Budget Director at the Ministry of Finance, was yesterday re-appointed by President Anthony Carmona.