While St. Lucia is facing serious economic challenges like other Caribbean countries, its public sector salaries are among the highest in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, according to the country’s Prime Minister Kenny Anthony.
In proving his point, Anthony compared local public sector salaries to that of St. Vincent, Grenada and Dominica during a national address Sunday night on the financial status of the economy and the ongoing wage negotiations for public service employees.
According to Dr. Anthony, an accountant in St. Lucia earns $59,533 per year compared to $40,611 in Dominica, $50,136 in St. Vincent and $51,060 in Grenada.
In St. Lucia, an economist earns $52,080 per year compared to $40,611 in Dominica, $44,256 in Grenada and $48,711 in St. Vincent.
A police constable earns $25,176 in St. Lucia, $20,220 in St. Vincent and $15,484 in Grenada, while a police corporal earns $36,992 in St. Lucia, $27,228 in St. Vincent and $23,504 in Grenada.
A secondary school principal earns $63,259 in St. Lucia, $57,948 in St. Vincent, $50,808 in Grenada and $53,387 in Dominica.
In St. Lucia, a customs officer earns $59,533; $32,532 in St. Vincent and $31,849 in Dominica.
The prime minister however cautioned: “I know it will be tempting for some to argue that St. Lucia is better off than its neighbours and should not be compared with them. However, this is not the case anymore. St. Lucia’s borrowing requirement as a percentage of GDP is the highest in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. This was the case in 2010, 2011 and in 2012. If this trend is not reversed very soon, we will be firmly on the path to an IMF programme.”
While the blood suckers want to cut down on poor people’s salary after putting taxes way above our heads, why don’t they lead by example and cut their salary first, before talking about cutting people’s pay? Why is no one talking about that? I just can’t see why this is not an issue in this country. After He is making things as difficult as possible for us to survive in this country, while collecting his BIG check, he wants to cut down on small people’s intake making things even more difficult.Who is this guy, and who does he think he is?
Personally i believe if civil servants really do go on strike they should be fired and replace them with persons who really want to work.
1. Some Custom workers tend to accept bribes preventing government from collecting the maximum revenue they suppose to collect.
2. Workers at the registrar takes forever to issue documents requested by the public e.g birth certificates etc.
Government also need to look seriously at the absenteeism rate and tardiness of public servants.
Lastly pay public servants accordingly. You produce you get paid. You don’t no pay.
did he just call our prime minister cheap?
It is important to note that the quality of leadership is also superior in St. Lucia thamn Dominica. In Lucia they put forward competent, well read, and experience players to lead them. Dominica prefer to differ to dimmple and rum shop political material.
dominica is far off better than some of the countries that paying there public service workers high wages…. yes alot of people want to be paid like the ppl in lucia but if u watch closely though lucia is smaller than d.a there is a fast pace country but still look now they are looking to decrease the wages of there workers
yeah am living on lucia.st.lucia is had.go to choice net news st.lucia and listen to the cry off the nation.kenny say is better days but lucian cryin where the better days.no job and high taxes.grocery and stuff on da even cheaper dan lucia now ask lucian they will tell you.. just now you all going to c alot off lucian flocking on da.the same da they use to call poor.cause da is is not the bottom again they a d top
Are you kidding me? You say St.Lucians will be flocking down on Dominica soon, tell your Doctor to kindly increse the dosage of your prozac, for that will never happen,over our dead bodies.
yo you need to increase your dosage of provac.cause lucian are cryin,so what you dont have hope on da.well with god nothing is impossible.it has been said that da will b the bread basket of the caribbean.for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life.
i choose life on Dominica.
You can go to Establishment Department and ask for a copy of the salaries pay scale book…They just print it out. A corporal salary is about $3007.00.
St. Lucia is not Dominica and the economies are not the same.
Can’t you remember the lie? Skerrit told us and fools like you in particular, that Dominica’s economy was doing the best in the world. We were insulated by the Global ?Financial Crisis. We were even sending money to relatives in America, Europe and the rest of the Caribbean.
YOU CAN’T LEAD AND GROW A COUNTRY ON LIES….
Reasons why we are becoming so poorer and poorer as a nation. Evil leaders!
@ Anonymous St Lucia has less corruption.
QUESTION TO YOU IS!!!!WHYYYYYYYY??????????
AND WHEN DID IT CHANGE???????????
In time of PJ, Dominica was on top of all the other Windward Islands. Where have we gone wrong?
Ask PJ, now barred by Fifa! We also had a very long strike, people afraid to go to their gardens, treason,a defence force that looked more like an operatic society with self-appointed sennior officers, a raid on the police armory, a lack of inward investment, a dearth of tourists, surveillance by the FBI and deals with right-wing extremists. Ever read “Bayou of pigs”? What went wrong indeed!
Kenny was making a point to warn his people that things are bad it won’t be business As usual and they have to change course,so he is preparing them for a reduction in salary.
That’s right!
lets all move to st. lucia then..
I can’t seem to understand why everyone seems to think that just increasing all salaries will make a big difference. The more money in circulation the lower the value of the currency. Give every Dominican a million dollars and we would all be poor. The standard of living in Dominica bay not be the greatest but it us far from the worse even in developed countries
your argument would make sense IF we didn’t import so many products. the fact that we import a great deal makes the size of the salary important. for example, if you make 2000 in DA and i make 3000 in SLU and we need to purchase a vehicle who is better off? agriculture in SLU and the variety of homegrown produce is similar to DA so they not importing from us to a great extent what we export to say the Leewards. therefore size of salary for persons living in a non net exporting nation is critical to determine purchasing power and quality of economic life.
Ok so all we do is import. How then do you propose building the economy with so few people. St Lucia has a larger tax base so taxes can and should be lower. The cost of products should also be lower since the potential turn over should be greater. Agriculture and bananas will never be a successful as it was in the past because there is no longer preferential treatment and our cost of production will be greater than most countries with larger populations. So please provide some suggestions on how to build a strong economy in Dominica. Now on another not we love to compare Dominican prices to Us prices. Sometimes Dominican prices are better for example 370 g good start infant formula in Washington is 24 Us. Go to Whitchurch and check the price. some Schools here are in deplorable conditions with teachers complaining of rat infestations broken WIndows and lack of heat. Standards only expected in third world countries. So please stop making Dominica look like such a bad place and the only country in the world with problems. Instead put forward solutions to solve these problems. And not the typical change the government solution. No government can solve the problems without a change in the peoples mentality
It seems like am missing something,It doesnt show how much a corporal , constable earns in Dominica,what a big difference,am not comparing these small island with the u s,I guys are highly educated too earn that little salarie,a handyman without an education earns three times than that in the u s
Yeah, I picked up this omission also. Is our officers pay so paltry that it does not bear public disclosure? Or perhaps the opposite is true, that in comparison with teachers, for example they are excellenty rewarded. Surely this information is not a State secret, or is it?
if you want i could tell you all,it’s not that much it’s only 1500 those guys are getting
not a surprise!
so c me take my calculator to check how much d/cans r making a month. boy u wonder y there is a brain drain? Student loan to pay, family to start n geting paid 2k u think one can live on that? school bools alone is half, gas to go to work and eating health takes alot of money 2. no wonder plp r so fat. they eat to releave the stress boy.
Very demotivating i must say.
Hmmm, Maybe that’s the justification for illegal money practices? tell me how Dominicans build all these houses, buy these clothes ( so expensive in the stores) and drive those cars with so little money?
But kenny which caribbean prime minister and miniters make more money….i want to know what your salary and skerit salary
Allu crying for more money for public servants, but no one is saying where the money is supposed to come from.
Haven’t you guys looked at the size of the private sector in Dominica? These are the people (plus customs duties) that procide the tax revenue to pay public servants. Unless the private sector tax base is enlarged, we are stuck with paying lower salaries to public servants. These are just the facts.
Do you guys want us to become like Greece?
You are going to far…. Look at the population. It is difficult to build a healthy economy alone so where will the money come from. I’m sure someone might try to use bananas to say that we can and we have. Dominica did not do it alone. Preferential treatment i think was the term used. The government should raise all salaries then raise taxes to match. Then Dominicans would be happy. Or maybe not.
Kenny Anthony is a brilliant politician. St Lucia is drowning in debt so the best thing to do is to say your salary is better than the others.
He is prepping them for what is to come via the IMF route.
PT the smart sensible ones like you and I will see through these things but these UWP/DNO lennox fooled Q95 fanatic and make it political.
Like Kenny Anthony knows Politics is for winning elections governing is making sensible/pragmatic and structured conservative fiscal decisions.
UWP/DNO/leaky lennox fooled Q95 fanatics will not understand these things.
St Lucia will fall into IMF clutches if public servants demands are met – PM
http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/st_lucia_news/654130.html#axzz2HOV1pGmu
Prime Minister Anthony said the current proposal by the trade unions would increase the government wage bill by an estimated EC$55 million annually.
CASTRIES, St Lucia – The St. Lucia government says while it is anxious to bring closure to the wage and salary negotiations involving public servants it is not going to endorse salaries that would further affect the economic situation in the country and force the island into the clutches of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
All well said Mr. Anthony, Now compare the cost of living in Dominica with those other islands that you mention. Does earning more in St Lucia mean that you can live more comfortably? How about crime rates and those other factors that can affect your quality of life? How about our lines of credit at the ECCB, Which of these islands are ‘better off?’
At least supermarket goods are much cheaper in St. Lucia than Dominica.
And St. Lucia has no VAT on their electricity bills! Poor people in Dominica are being stripped bare.
The crime rate is not the only indicator of ‘quality of life’.. Equality and social justice stinks in Dominica,The crime rate in dominica is also spiralling, not many Dominicans can eat a balanced meal in Dominica,access to educational, recreational and health facilities is a problem here,life expectancy is decreasing.
St Lucia is far far far better of.
All those other issues you raised were not the thrust of Mr. Anthony’s discussion. He wanted to warn the public servants and the population at large of the impending problems they face if they continue down that road.
You completely missed the man’s point. He was not trying to compare which place was better or worse.
I suppose Piper you missed the point of my contribution. What was his purpose in outlining the salaries of public officers in the various islands? Was it an indicator that st Lucians are living better than citizens of the other islands? Maybe it was merely a device to silence winning St lucians about their predicament. I admit that I am uninformed, but I wonder what and examination of the price of food, telecomunications, etc as well as access to medical care among other services would reveal. Just an example, last year my Aunt had her knee replaced, her research revealed that in Martinique it cost upwards of 40,000 euros, in stlucia near 40,000 XCD while in dominica it cost just under 20,000 xcd. I had an ECG dunring the summer of 2012, I was suprised that it cost less than 40 XCD, whereas in St Lucia it exceeded 200 XCD and in Barbados upwards of 300 BDS.
As I said I remain for the most part uninformed but what did those two independent researches suggest? Suffice to say both my aunt and I went through our procedures successfully at PMH.
to answer that question you need not go any further but ask “of all the OECS countries, which one has the most citizens living in other OECS countries?” the answer is unpleasant.
just saying, the focus for 2013 and onward need to change. we need to stop playing politics and look for ways to improve the lives of the dcan citizens. Personally I want to work and build my house, drive a fancy car. that’s the reason I went to study. I don’t want no Petro casa or a Chinese plastic house. so very soon, DCA will be loosing yet another professional. I fed up work for peanuts!
Come to the us with all these plastic and dry wall apartments.. Why do you Dominicans complain about how bad life us in Dominica. I was surprised to see how huge apartments are built here. Plastic exterior and drywall inSide. Yet in Dominica we use concrete blocks. You have to work 2 our 3 jobs to make it through. Life is a challenge no matter where you go. Do don’t think that leaving Dominica will make life a breeze.
Is that they refuse to understand there!
Boy they have no idea! Here in the U.S. I have a great job making over $60,000. without a degree. But I so want to go back home to make a difference. All of us are leaving yet give us room to criticize. We are all responsible for the state of Dominica.
I am so sorry to hear that! D/ca so needs citizens like you.
what?????????? is so little our custom officers are making? no wonder they are killing us with port charges…thanks for that leak our Dr K. Anthony
but on a serious note. Thats why brain drain will always affect DCA. salaries are too small. when colleagues in the region tell us of their salary, obviously we will move to the other islands…
Now here is the $64,000 question. With disparities like these, just in our small OECS, how are we going to attain, true economic, political and social union? Will mr. Skerrit raise national incomes to bring them on par with St. Lucia? It is a fair assumption that the other islands would not want to lower their salaries and pay to our norms.
Well so when folks keep saying on the record that Dominica is the Poorest in the Eastern Caribbean It’s a fact…Antigua is Higher than Dominica as Well..
The other islands will continue to attract Investment and be Healthy in Growth because they Are By better thinkers and the so call brains they Claim to have in Dominica..
The Unions are much more alert, as well as their Citizens more in tune with standards and better Quality of life…..
Dominica…is lost with the backward and negative Mindset of worshipping and smile and he young wee!
so what, look at the whole picture, Tony.
THAT IS SUCH A SHAME U HAVE ALL THESE PPL WHO SAY THEY HAVE AN EDUCATION THAT IS THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THEY ARE MAKING? THEN YOUR EDUCATION DON`T WORTH MUCH(LOL)
papa that nuh dominicans making? the price of goods r rising no wonder they have to go to the red clinic for medical assistance because that little money cannot pay for, food, loan, child maintenace car, gas and medical. Mr PM we need to do something about that. increase minimum wage n salary. N u wonder y dominicans have no respect for their jobs? hard work n little pay.
Socialists.. Can provide you shelter, fill your belly with bacon and beans, treat you when you are ill, All the things guaranteed to a prisoner or slave.
Ronald Reagan
Great comment, wonder why the UWP didn’t increase salaries when they were in power. Imagine what the pay was then, when UWP was in power, though there have been several pay increases since.
So what exactly is your point? Can you remember that the UWP refused to negotiate and recognized the Dominica Association of Teachers as the bargaining agent for teachers? Now imagine what their pay would be?
thts really insane.public servants should get more money.postmen, policemen,firemen,custom.they are all at risk.the PM should see that
wtf we need to do somethign bout our salaries asap by any means necessary
I lived in St Lucia for a few years and I moved back to Dominica. When i tell people St. Lucia is a bit more devleoped than Dominica they don’t believe me. Crime is worst their than in Dominica but the entire island even the ‘country’ areas are more developed and more accesbile than in Dominica. We need to do better here. For sure Roseau is the new beijeing but we not seeing the benefit of having all dem chinese, the money not staying in the country.
Would it surprise you to learn that with regard to crime,the murder rate for St. Lucia is not that much different from Dominica. UN figures (supplied by the OAS)show St. Lucia with 25.2 and Dominica with 22.1 for the year 2010 (latest available figures, expressed as the number of homicides per 100,000 population).
Mr. Anthony is right in expressing his concern. Our lower GDP – U.S.$.6,833, as against St. Lucia’s U.S.$.7,522 for 2010(latest available IMF figyures) – does not entirely explain the gap in salaries and wages, especially if one compares the GDP on basis of PPP (purchasing power parity)where we outperformed St. Lucia during the same period. It makes one suspect that we have a less equitable distribution of income than our near-neigbours. The disparity in min. wages, E.C.5.00/hr. in Dominica against E.C.$.7.50/hr. in St Lucia would be one manestfation of this.
One only has to look at our Govt. ministers’ remunerations and those of their public servants to realise the merits of such an argument and it is ironic that this should be so in a country, whose leadership prides itself for its socialist principles.
But if you think we are that hard up give a thought to our fellow human beings in Haiti, which gained its independce long before us but could only boast A GDP of U.S.$.739 in 2010.
If our reasoning is that because lucian public workers earn more than their Dominican counterparts, then we should arbitrarily increase the Dominican public sector salaries to match those of St.Lucia. If that is the reasoning, without examining what it is that is driving the various economies then I say can also advise about simply going and print more money. Was PM Anthony advising the DPSU that they must demand a higher increase for their members? Certainly not. he was simply making the point that if St. Lucia continue growing its expenditure side of the budget, including increasing the remuneration package of public officers without any proper concern for the state of the economy, then the IMF is inevitable. But here we are egging on for an increase to match St. Lucia’s, a bigger economy than ours.
I say let the partisan politics roll ceaselesslyu. Guess what, we all will be doomed not only PM Skerrit.
Sir, we are the kakarat among the named islands!
I hope we reading his ending statment
I will have to go to St. Lucia to find a job. With the advent of CSME, it would be easy for me to land one of those high paying jobs since I am well qualified, but again, I might think twice because of the crime rate which reminds me that money is not all, but vital. We need salary increases in Dominica. Time for action.
Well, well, well. I am glad the St. Lucian PM posted the figures. I hope MR. PM Sterrit is taking note a will do something about the salaries in Dominica
I guess that we should increase salaries and get into problems like St. Lucia.
Where is the extra money going to come from to pay the public servants? Unless the economy grows, the extra money is going to come from taxes on a very small private sector. The public sector does not produce anything.
Maybe we could get the extra monies by increasing Vehicle and Drivers Licences, since such licences was last increased before Ms. Charles left office in the 1980’s. Do we really need an increase in Licences to ay higher salaries?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Oh oh Tony leak that information to Kenny- wasn’t that suppose to be secrete and confidential information? So civil servants you see for selves just like you see for yourselves who has been leaking Distrut underworld affairs.
@ lamowi Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Boy look roro! Lennox must find out.Listen next Sunday at 4.00pm.
He will leave the line open for 10 minutes and it will be for Toney to call.
Yup we have always known that salaries in Dominica are much lower than in the other islands. It is such a shame, let Domnicans sit back and just take it like fools. When the present governement came into power they realised that THEIR salaries were too low and increased them 100 percent but did nothing for the public servants. Incredible, and the populace love it.
Well, we have the unions which eat our monies to blame, I work at a private sector institution with branches in most of the other C/bean countries; everything else is determined by the overall performance of all the Business Units, except remuneration. Whenever it is brought up, the shop stewards and union reps are quick to say it is our laws. These laws are in effect since whenever.
What am I doing in the usa if I can make that kind of money in the carribean
these are XCD values… 1 US dollar = 2.7169 XCD dollars
and still get to enjoy life? Jude I hear u, I miss my country.
lol, i wonder why they dont put police salary for Dominica, wonder if is small it small so
lol