An ‘underlying threat’ of downsizing hangs over Cayman Islands government employees in the newly reformed civil service law, according to the organisation which represents those workers.
‘There have been rumours going around that high-level civil servants have said ‘we’re hoping to downsize the government,” said Cayman Islands Civil Service Association 2nd Vice President Christen Suckoo. ‘We want to make sure that civil servants’ jobs are secure.’
Mr. Suckoo’s comments came during a speech at the annual meeting of the Civil Service Association Wednesday night. Much of that meeting was spent discussing recent changes to the law which give government managers more control over their own departments, and which will lead to the implementation a performance-based pay system for civil servants.
Mr. Suckoo said another concern workers have is that the new law, in their opinion, sets up an adversarial relationship between labour and management.
He also mentioned employee fears that the system of performance reviews, once fully implemented, may lead to political cronyism with bosses choosing to give bonuses and promotions to office favourites.
Changes to Cayman Islands Civil Service Law took effect 1 January and many of the provisions, such as the performance pay bonuses, and the opening of a training college for government managers, will take time to put in place.
Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts has called the previous system of salary increments based on years of service a ‘waste of time’ which allows a government worker to continually earn more money for doing the same job.
Mr. Tibbetts has said this can create a situation where salary ‘does not relate to responsibility.’
Despite workers’ concerns about office politics and downsizing, Deputy Head of the Civil Service Peter Gough told the Caymanian Compass in an interview last month that the new system actually offers workers more protection than they’ve previously been given.
Government employees will be able to make formal complaints if someone else is hired or promoted to a position the worker feels he or she was equally or more qualified to perform.
‘There will be a civil service appeals commission which will allow, for the first time, civil servants to appeal against decisions of their chief officer to an independent body,’ Mr. Gough said.
Mr. Suckoo said the employees association would monitor that system to judge its effectiveness. He also told workers they were entitled to representation by the association, including legal representation, at any appeal or disciplinary hearings with management.
He said the new law also requires the association to act as a ‘vetting body’ for worker grievances, weeding out frivolous complaints before they are brought to the government.
Association managers also urged workers to receive and maintain updated job descriptions for performance evaluations.
‘You’re going to be judged on what’s on that piece of paper,’ said Mr. Suckoo. ‘If they say ‘milk ten cows’, and you say ‘I don’t have any cows’, you’re going to get a zero on that part of the evaluation.’
Changes to the Civil Service Law are due to be reviewed two years after their implementation date.
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