The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

SOME 1,400 minimum wage workers in the government’s 52-week Skills Empowerment Programme were expected to be paid yesterday after experiencing delays, according to Public Service Minister Pia Glover-Rolle.

She said multi-agency meetings this week would address payment issues.

“I take exception to us having issues with late payment to our workers,” Mrs Glover-Rolle said. “It has gotten better, but it shouldn’t be happening at all.”

The 52-Week Skills Empowerment Programme is a government-funded job programme initiated in 2018 to provide unemployed people between 19 and 30 with skills to find gainful employment.

The programme is conducted with the National Training Agency and the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute. Private-sector participation is also encouraged.

Since the programme’s implementation, there have been complaints about delayed payments.

“I think we’ve made some improvements between last pay period and this one,” Mrs Glover-Rolle said. “We are having meetings this week, all of our departments and agencies, to ensure that when the next payroll comes that there won’t be this issue.”

“We are working on a process of digitization so that these historic, legacy issues of 52-week workers and workers in general having to wait on pay can be done away with.

“In terms of our payroll issues, it’s still manual, it’s still multi-agency. In the public service, we do our part. The Ministry of Finance and, of course, the treasury has to do its part, so we are trying to work through the kinks, but there is no excuse. If people put in a good day’s work, they should get a good day’s pay.

“Every time a new cohort comes, it seems to be some kinks when it comes to payroll. We have to do away with that. If we know that it is continuing to happen, then we know that we have to fix it. That’s the bottom line so that we aren’t inconveniencing our employees.”