Rush to pay arrears possibly caused December salary delays

By Warren Bertram 

Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke says the rush to pay the arrears in December could have played a role in the current delay in payment for some public sector workers.

On Wednesday morning, the ministry announced that employees at five government agencies out of 52 were experiencing a delay in the payment of salaries. That number was reduced to one, by late afternoon.

Dr. Clarke said the push to get things done in a short space of time could have contributed to the challenges being experienced. 

“I think certainly if we had decided to pay the arrears in January, many of these issues would not have arisen,” he admitted, adding that it was “a compressed timeline” between the unions signing the agreement in mid-November to the period in December when the calculations were done. 

He was speaking Wednesday evening on TVJ’s All Angles.