The Government has been catching a lot of heat recently for giving themselves a 200% raise, but politicians aren’t the only ones getting hefty increases.  Wanna know who else is on the list?

I know most of you are probably already familiar with the story but for my viewers outside Jamaica, let me explain what’s happening. 

A couple of weeks ago the Government announced a massive pay increase for political leaders and the judiciary. And I mean MASSIVE! Over 200% across the board for Members of Parliament, Cabinet Ministers, Mayors and Judges. 

The Government explained that the increase is a part of the revised public sector compensation structure.  Fancy shmancy explanation.

I should explain that it’s not a 200% increase all at once. They’re getting part of the increase this year and the full 200% by 2024.  But still, right?

Anyway, the government used a similar structure to negotiate with teachers and rank-and-file police officers back in March. And that was a whole mess, with teachers going on strike for days.  They refused the Government’s offer at first and then accepted a few weeks later. 

Then the police union took negotiations down to the wire before eventually accepting it. There was an April 1 deadline to agree to the deal or they risked having to wait until 2024 for the next national budget.

And like I said it’s a similar structure, where they get part of the increase this year and the rest next year.

Right, so a quick recap of what a 200% increase looks like. Cabinet ministers’ pay move from around J$7 million in 2021 to almost $23 million by April 1 next year. 

For the Mayors of Kingston and Montego Bay, which are two of Jamaica’s largest cities, their salaries move from $3 million in 2021 to $10 and $11 million.  

While Jamaica’s Chief Justice will now take home $28 million a year.  Senior judges get $22 million a year, and judges will get $21 million. 

Needless to say, the announcement got and is still getting a lot of backlash. So much so that Prime Minister Andrew Holness said he won’t take his increase. That would have taken his salary from $9 to $28 million.  That’s about US$180,000.

But other senior public sector workers are also getting big raises.  

Principals at larger tertiary colleges are getting their pay doubled from between $4-$5 million, to $10 to $13 million.

Principals at some of the bigger high schools are getting their pay tripled!  They were getting $3 million before.  That’s going up to between $8 and $11 million. That’s US$70,000 on the high end for a large high school principal.

Principals at smaller high schools will get between $5- $7 million, up from $2-$3 million. And it’s a similar story for high school vice principals and primary school principals and vice principals.  Meanwhile, master teachers will now be paid between $4-$5 million. 

Now let’s talk about the doctors.  Pay is being doubled for level one, two and three doctors.

Level three doctors will now get up to J$10 million – about US$64,000. Level two doctors will get up to $9 million. While level one doctors will make up to $8 million.

And Senior members of the police also got a big increase. But I wanted to highlight teachers and doctors specifically because of something the Prime Minister said while defending the raise for politicians. 

Jamaica has a serious brain drain problem. Just last year we were ranked as the second highest out of 177 countries, on the human flight and brain drain index. That means that our young professionals are leaving the island for better opportunities. So obviously, we gotta pay them better.

I wonder though, are our potential politicians also leaving?  Do politicians get into politics for the money? Actually, never mind. Forget I said that.