One after another, staff associations of the police and other disciplined services have been stepping up pressure on government to improve their remuneration. Not only that, but some disciplined services demand that there should be a uniform pay scale and that they should be on parity with the police, while the latter is agitating for an independent pay mechanism.
As the heat builds, there is growing concern whether the government will lose its grip. While the staff associations appear to have reached a point from which they will not retreat, the public remains sceptical about their pay claims.
The government's civil service policy has long been based on the principle of fair comparison with the market, as ascertained by pay trend and pay level surveys. The 2006 pay level survey, the first in two decades, last reviewed overall civil service pay levels, comparing broad civilian job families with the private sector. Both the directorate and disciplined services were excluded from that survey, the latter on the grounds that there were no private-sector comparators, with the promise of subsequent grade structure reviews.
The disciplined services' grade structure review was completed late last year, but the government decided to put on hold its recommendations to adjust some pay points upwards, due to the deteriorating economic climate triggered by the global financial crisis.
The disciplined services certainly have a case calling for the early implementation of the grade structure review in line with the agreed pay review mechanism. The government, though, cannot ignore any political backlash resulting from granting pay rises to the disciplined services and, by extension, the directorate officers, when the rest of the civil service undergoes pay freezes or cuts and the general workforce faces job losses and wage cuts. How to strike the delicate balance, while still preserving the integrity of the pay review mechanism, will test the government's political skills. Public support is needed if any pay proposals are to avoid obstacles when legislators are asked to approve additional appropriations.
Internal 'relativities' have always been a source of conflict within the civil service. Historically, police officers enjoyed better pay and benefits while pay among the other disciplined services varied. In 1988, the Rennie Committee completed a pay structure review for the disciplined services. Its attempt to rationalise their pay scales, however, caused an uproar.
The committee went halfway in meeting police demands to be detached from civilians by recommending a new pay advisory body, with separate subcommittees for the police and the others, and separate pay scales. I joined the standing committee on disciplined services salaries and conditions of service when it was set up in 1989.
