FAQs Bill 180
Q: Who would get the $10,880 pay increase?
A: Every classified employee of the Government of Guam that doesn’t work for an autonomous agency.
Q: Why $10,880?
A: The last pay scale adjustment was in 1989, $10,880 reflects the amount that the lowest paid Public Servant (Pay Grade A, Step 1) has lost to inflation. People in higher pay grades like teachers, Accountants, Nurses, engineers etc have lost more.
Q: Will this be a final pay scale for Public Servants?
A: No, this is a minimum stop gap just to account for wages lost to inflation. There is currently a new Hay study underway which will reset all of the wages much higher eventually.
Q: Why don’t we wait until the next Hay study is done?
A: First we can’t wait. Public Servants have been told to wait for so long they can’t make ends meet. Second, This guarantees a minimum fair wage increase. Third, after the last couple of wage studies done we have seen that the results of the study may not reflect anything more than the marching orders given to the people doing the survey.
Q: Will we need to raise taxes to pay for this or is it an unfunded mandate?
A: No on both counts. The additional revenue will be generated by increasing the wages of private sector workers by a comparable amount via Bill 111. By forcing Large corporations to pay their employees a Living Wage the Public Structure saves millions in subsidies (EITC, GHURA housing, Food Stamps, MIP etc) and generates Millions of more dollars in tax revenues.
Q: Will this cause inflation?
A: No! History proves that the wages of workers on Guam has almost zero effect on our cost of living.
Q: Won’t businesses just use this as an excuse to raise their prices any way?
A: No. Business is competitive by nature, if a business can undercut another and still make a profit it will.
Q: Will this be “Anti-Business”?
A: No. In fact it’s just the opposite. When workers earn an extra dollar they spend it in our economy where it circulates ten times so our economy will grow and local businesses will prosper. Any additional cost that they may incur as a result of pay raises will be made up by the increased volume of business.
#1 by Sanjay Sharma on July 30, 2009 - 8:27 am
Quote
Yeah, how dare he raise the wages for the employees earning a little over $1,000 a month! If they didn’t get a raise in twenty years, let them wait another 20 years. They don’t work anyway. I mean, who cares if the management gets $60,000 at the Governor’s office? $14,000 is more than enough for the everyday workers in GovGuam. Sarcasm intended! Seriously, can you live on a salary of $14,000? A starting teacher here on Guam gets paid around $26,000. Starting accountants who know what they are doing get paid around $22,000. Try building a career out of that! It’s near impossible to do. And the baby name calling that you guys do, so childish! Did you even consider what the people are making before you jump in and criticize this? This increase would increase the amount of taxes owed, so really, it’s around a $8,000 in pay. If I knew I would be getting that much in a year, I’d go out and get a car! Businesses should be happy!
See Matt Rector’s facebook comments at sayguam.com
(comment left on GuamPDN.com)