So what is fair pay for deminers?

[Andy Smith]

Demining salaries vary very widely - the following is in Sri Lanka.

 

[Incidentally, 13,360 SL Rupees = US$116; 18,000 SL Rupees = US$156.]

 

 

De-mining staff demand pay rise  
By Shalika Ranaweera and Athula Bandara

 

Workers in Kebithigollawe and Thanthirimale, involved in de-mining activities for the Milinda Moragada Institute of People Empowerment (MMIPE), staged a protest in the Anuradhapura town on Saturday asking for a salary increment.

 

“De-mining is a risky job and when compared to other institutions involved in the same work, we are getting a much lesser pay. This is the lowest payment in the country for de-mining work,” K.P.Chaminda Priyadarshana, team leader of the group, told Daily Mirror. “We have been working for the Milinda Moragoda Institute for six years. At the moment two groups involving 35 persons in the Bogoda area in Thantirimale and 15 in Kanugahawewa area in Kebithigollewa are involved in de-mining work. We have finished de-mining a two square kilometer stretch in Bogoda. Our job is risky and one little mistake could cause the loss of life. We could even be disabled forever. We are paid only Rs.13, 350 each. We have made several requests to authorities to increase this amount. But they have never listened,” he said.

 

He added that de-mining workers in other institutes enjoy good salaries and facilities. Therefore, he said that they insist on a monthly salary of at least Rs.18, 000. He notes that they had not been given an opportunity to discuss the matter with Minister Milinda Moragoda. “They always say that the minister has gone abroad. Finally we decided to strike work until we get our demands. This protest will carry our message to the country,” Chaminda Priyadharshana said.

 

The protest was held for an hour near the D.S.Senanayake roundabout in Anuradhapura. 

What do people think about the rate? Should it be pegged to another activity within the national economy? Should all groups have to pay a national minimum? If so, I think that MMIPE probably are paid the national minimum.

 

 

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[Robert Keeley]

Hi Andy

At the risk of being unusually contraversial I would like to ask why
we need to peg this against anything. Our aim is to get the most
demining done for the local population and 'pegging' something is
likely to get it wrong. If we peg it too low, they will not apply for
the jobs, and if it is too high it will be chaos. Look what happens
when the UN starts paying drivers $500 a month in the same sort of
places...

Personally I think demining agencies are now pretty good at
establishing their own salary scales, and this is an area where we
dont need any standardisation. In fact I think MAG's work to
decentralise some of this stuff and get more of the money spent for
temporary work in the affected communities rather than employing
people who tend to come from the capital (where job opportunities are
greater and salaries higher). This approach can actually lower the
wage bill but it is being spent in the communities where our actual
beneficiaries live, so has a greater multiplier effect.

Don't get me wrong, once we employ people we have a duty of care that
we are giving them the best possible support in other areas, such as
medical support, insurance and camp logistics, but pegging salaries is
likely to lead to inflation and a net reduction in the amount of land
we can clear for a limited budget.

yours

Bob

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[Henrik Vassback]

Dear colleagues,
First and most important, I don’t say this is right or wrong; only try to establish some sort of thoughts…

If someone is offering me a job and I accept, then the salary (and perhaps other benefits) was right, good enough for me... It’s the free market, I guess.
And you have to consider all benefits, insurances, safety and if you pay tax etc.
My experience is that two jobs are never the same.
If you like to have an international minimum “de-miner salary”, I’d say you need a minimum “de-miner qualification standard” maybe an international certificate. Is this even possible?
So in the end, you get what you pay for, hopefully.

Some thoughts…
Henrik Vassback
Swedish EOD and Demining Centre


--- On Mon, 8/24/09, Andy Smith <a...@nolandmines.com> wrote:

[Andy Smith]

Bob and Henrik,

Well, yes. 

 

I was talking about a "national" pay rate pegged to some other occupation nationally.

 

Several problems arise with pay that is very low in local terms.

 

1) Low pay often means paltry other benefits. For example, deminer insurance is very often pegged to pay rate - and low pay means trivial payouts for death or severe disability.

2) Pay peanuts in any economy and you get desperate people who move on as soon as the opportunity arises, so wasting training and experience.

3) I'd rather have a deminer who can concentrate on the job without worrying about whether he can afford rice or aspirin for his kids.

4) I'd rather have deminers who do not feel exploited and so disinclined to get on with the job or anxious to join another agency.

5) Donors are often concerned with humanitarian issues, and exploiting those with no other option (in societies without any social safety net to prevent starvation) contradicts their aims. Humanitarian demining is meant to be conducted in a humanitarian way as well as for humanitarian ends.

6) The best demining always involves teamwork - and the disparity between ex-pat pay and local pay requires some kind of parallel to justify. For example - I might say that I get the same as a school teacher with 15 years experience. In Sri Lanka, that benchmark would mean that deminers do quite well on $US150 per month (although that does depends on where the school is located).

 

I could also list a few problems that arise when you pay too much - but the problem is not as easy to dismiss as you both suggest and the question of what to peg things against in the local economy is real. The answer may be varied, but could be a guideline when starting up somewhere.

 

Out of interest, can anyone tell me what basic deminers are paid where they are working?

 

Regards

Andy

 

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[sean.mo...@talk21.com]

Dear all, I have to say that I am with Bob on this question. What may be peanuts to us is often unbelievable wealth to the populations of the countries concerned. I would contend, therefore, that the deminers are rarely exploited by the agencies.  Deminers are told how much they will be paid in advance.  They are also told what their insurance coverage will be.  I'm yet to see a demining recruitment process that was not overwhelmed with applicants. Salaries and insurance rates can be too high and immediately distort the local economy (a la UN). I am reminded of the story of the Afghan deminer who deliberately blew off his left hand in order to get the insurance money.  Now, I'm not sure if that story is merely allegorical or not but it sounds plausible. I would like to see the market setting the salary.  In countries where there is a state-imposed minimum, like S Sudan, it seems to me that the high salary is only there to allow the deminers to be informally taxed by authority figures. If deminers feel the salaries are too low for the risks, they will leave and no one will replace them.  The agencies will therefore have no deminers and have to raise the salaries.  The market will find its own levels. Cheers, Sean

--- On Tue, 25/8/09, Andy Smith <a...@nolandmines.com> wrote:

From: Andy Smith <a...@nolandmines.com> Subject: IGEOD: Re: So what is fair pay for deminers? To: demi...@googlegroups.com

[Robin Collins]

A few words on behalf of the proletariat here:

Maybe markets have their place, but as we all know, they also have a
remarkable tendency (all things not being equal) to enable the "race
to the bottom". No question there is likely a line-up at the deminers
recruiting office, and plenty of opportunities for cheap labour.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I assume Andy was asking NOT what the
market will bear (ie lowest wage rate possible in each country), but
what might be equitable wages for similar work -- and what kind of
work might be considered "similar" in terms of skills, risks,
expectations, other compensation.

Whatever it is "the market might bear", I would place demining in a
similar category as police work, or perhaps one step lower risk and
skill set. Does that justify similar wages as for police work? Maybe,
maybe not.

Robin

[Henrik Vassback]

Well again, I’m not sure what is right or not, but again we have to look at a lot of different aspects.
In Afghanistan the police don’t get paid at all some periods and have to take “local tolls or taxes” from people in order to survive. In some countries I’d say the police have a more dangerous job than the de-miner, in other not. A Swedish de-miner/soldier working for the Armed forces in some mission might earn some more than a policeman in Sweden, and a lot more than a local policeman in the mission area, but then he might work 24/7 and under very special circumstances. (And still he pays the normal high Swedish taxes).
But as long as he put his name on the contract the salary is good enough.
Personally I would never be able to convince my wife, with that kind of money, to let me go on an EOD-mission, when I get the same salary if I just work some overtime…

Henrik Vassback

(I apologise for my non-native English…)

[Robert Keeley]

Hi Andy

I think you miss my point, and maybe Henrik's too.

I dont argue with paying deminers a good enough salary. It's 'pegging'
I have an issue with, and the suggestion that this is a subject for
national standardisation. I think by now, on whole, the demining
agencies have enough institutional experience to sort this out.

The SL agency you mentioned, as I recall, has several managerial
issues facing it, so perhaps it is not surprising to hear that they
are having trouble with their workforce?

yours

Bob

[williel...@hotmail.com]

Dear All,

I am happy to report that, due to the generosity and foresight of the EU and
the USA, the Afghan Police now receive a regular monthly salary and
allowances for food and travel.

Best regards

William LAWRENCE

Mobile 918 760 333

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Henrik Vassback" <vass...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 12:38 AM
To: <demi...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: <demi...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: IGEOD: Fair pay for deminers? And taxes?

[Umapathy உமாபதி]

Dear Colleagues,
I don’t like argue much debated topic but I would like share my humble
opinion. Let us only make fair comparison like comparing a salary of
deminer from Sri Lanka to elsewhere (say for example Vietnam) rather
than comparing a teacher who is in Sri Lanka and in Indian
subcontinent is having much respected job not only that he/she is
entitled for pension and almost 3 months leave only need to teach for
6 hours maximum per working days. We know very well that if not all
most of them also give teach private classes as well.
Cost of living has increased dramatically in Sri lanka. To have a fair
comparison 5 years back when I bought my motor bike 1 liter gasoline
(Petrol) cost Rs 66 now costs Rs 130 (almost double).

Regards
R. Umapathy

On Aug 26, 11:04 am, <willielawre...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> I am happy to report that, due to the generosity and foresight of the EU and
> the USA, the Afghan Police now receive a regular monthly salary and
> allowances for food and travel.
>
> Best regards
>
> William LAWRENCE
>
> Mobile 918 760 333
>
> --------------------------------------------------

> From: "Henrik Vassback" <vassb...@yahoo.com>