Government gives in to public sector pay demands
December 11—The government has given in to demands for public sector pay rises, but this is to be done in phases starting with education, health, security, the military, internal affairs and local governments.
Public service minister, Muluri Mukasa gave few details during a conference except that, “Government has directed all ministries to come up with different salary proposals for all their workers by end is December 2017 so that we can announce how much each will get by end of this year,” he said.
This comes against a backdrop of industrial action taken by state prosecutors and later doctors who declined to work until something was done to improve their salaries and working conditions. In recent weeks, the nurses were also talking about a stay-away. At one point, President Yoweri Museveni called for the sacking of all striking doctors, but eventually a tentative deal was struck towards the end of November.
Muluri Mukasa said, “Research has shown that an unsatisfied worker equals to poor service and low productivity. We hope that by raising their salaries, there will be increased productivity in these major sectors hence enhancing the economy.”
No mention was made of the findings of the Salary Review Commission
However one source told 256BN the government has little wriggle room with the 2017/18 budget so it is unlikely no substantial wage increases will be seen before June 2018 and instead it will offer concessions on allowances.