Article: Equal Pay for Equal Work
Jamell Robinson
Article Equal pay for equal work: Equity for All!!
Income and pay disparity is not unique to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), as in many countries such as the United States of America recent studies have shown women make on average approximately 71 cents for every dollar a man makes. This can also be seen in remuneration imbalances along racial and ethnic lines. However, what’s unique to the TCI is that we very well might be the only modern country that it’s citizens find themselves on the short end of the stick in terms of payment for carrying out the same duties as our foreign counterparts.
If this practice was only seen in the private sector it would be one thing, but it is just as prevalent if not more so in the public sector. The TCI might be the only place in the world that going on local terms is to ones’ detriment. For example, presently a contract worker can get up to 2 or 3 contracts, each being 2 or 3 years in length. On the successful completion of each contract, a 15% gratuity is given, coupled with Housing ($14,400 annually), Telephone ($1,500 annually) and Transportation ($3,000 annually) allowances. If the Contract Worker is given two 3 years contracts with an annual salary of $60,000, they would have netted an additional $167,400 in comparison to their local counterpart during that same six (6) year period. In what world could that be right? But year after year, this is exactly what continues to happen in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Compare the above cost and fully understand the shared genuine outrage when Floyd Seymour, a CPA, and one of our very own was nickeled and dimed over $10,000 a year for the CEO of Invest TCI post, when the previous post holder, John Rutherford made $120,000 annually, plus allowances trumping even those outlined above. That could never be right. We need equal pay legislation and we need it now. We have local nurses right now working at Interhealth Canada making half the allowances made by their counterparts for the exact same work. That could never be right.
How can we expect any different from the private sector, when the Government of the people doesn’t value its people? There was a move under the last administration to roll all allowances into one set remuneration package during the pay and re-grading review, but somehow through some bureaucratic maneuvering, allowances and gratuities still continues to this day for contract workers and the Policy agreed in 2016 by the last Administration to reintroduce gratuity for Civil Servants has been shelved for the last 3 years. I guess we will see in next year. This current administration promised to introduce Equal Pay Legislation on page 22 of their Manifesto, the so called Change Document. It has been over 1,040 days since this administration was elected and the Equal Pay Legislation is nowhere in sight. That can’t be right, you deserve better!
Stay Blessed TCI
Jamell Robinson