Deputy Chief Secretary Dr Faith BYisrael said she is excited about some parts of the Salary Review Commission (SRC) recommendation of increases for public officials, including members of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). However, she said such talks are insensitive in the current climate where public-sector workers are being offered a salary increase of just four per cent.
The 120th report of the SRC , which Finance Minister Colm Imbert laid in the House of Representatives on November 15, proposes an increase in her Deputy Chief Secretary salary from $25,240 to $40,6290.
BYisrael, the assemblyman for Belle Garden/Glamorgan, is also Secretary of Health, Wellness and Social Protection. The SRC has proposed a bump in salary for secretaries from $24,370 to $38,3230.
Assistant secretaries would also benefit from a bump from $19,150 to $34,041.
The Minority Leader's salary is recommended to increase from $16,000 to $28,771.
In an interview with Newsday on November 26, BYisrael said, "When I came into this (politics) it certainly was not for the salary."
BYisrael entered the assembly in 2017 as a councillor for the Progressive Democratic Patriots. She won her seat at the tied January 2021 THA elections and retained it in the December 2021 THA elections.
She said, "I have been functioning and I will continue to function, whether that recommendation is approved or not.
"I am probably more excited for the salaries for the administrator and chief administrator increasing. Because I know that they do a lot of work in Tobago, and in my mind do way more work than the Permanent Secretary and Deputy Permanent Secretary in Trinidad. Seeing them get a bump in salary was most interesting to me about the whole report."
BYisrael recalled tough times while earning between $7,000-$8,000 as a minority councillor in the PNM-controlled THA from 2017-2021. The SRC recommends councillors be paid $10,687.
"Consider that I was a councillor without portfolio for four years, which is the lowest of the salaries in THA. That was a difficult period in terms of trying to make my regular bills."
She said an improvement in salary would definitely be worthwhile to "somebody coming into this at those lower levels."
Asked if Parliament should accept the recommendations, BYisrael said, "I honestly cannot say. There are some areas I am excited about, but on a personal level, whether it stays or increases, I will do what I was elected to do by the people of Tobago."
Asked whether salary increases should be performance-based, BYisrael said measuring performance is difficult. "I have heard the argument that some of our politicians are lowest paid in the Caribbean. I don't even know if this is true because I have never compared.
"But i hear the plight of the average man on the ground who is trying to do his best with minimum wage. I do feel this is a somewhat insensitive time, to be honest, to speak of increases of multiple of ten, 20, 30, 40 per cent for some people while others are being told four per cent or nothing."
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