{"id":38379,"date":"2016-04-26T23:32:33","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T23:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=38379"},"modified":"2016-04-26T23:32:33","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T23:32:33","slug":"government-employees-beginning-see-salary-increases-mapp-administration-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38379","title":{"rendered":"Some Government Employees Beginning To See Salary Increases, Mapp Administration Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. THOMAS — Division of Personnel Director Milton Potter said Tuesday that the first set of government employees would begin seeing raises in this week\u2019s paycheck, according to Government House press release. The announcement follows a recent job action by teachers in this district, who said they were vexed by government negotiations that asked unions to forego their retroactive pay as part of a deal to increase their salaries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am elated to see these raises going into effect,\u201d Mr. Potter said. \u201cThe ones who receive their raises this week will see an even larger check in two weeks.\u201d Mr. Potter\u00a0said that a group of employees represented by Our Virgin Islands Labor Union also received a $1,000 stipend last week, as the administration worked to fulfill contractual obligations and bring them up to step. However, it remains unclear whether the aforementioned union had to give up retroactive pay owed to its members before receiving their increases.<\/p>\n

Natalie Tang How, the administration’s chief labor negotiator, recently\u00a0attempted to clear up the government’s stance<\/a><\/span>, but her response did not make less obscure the situation.<\/p>\n

During a press conference held earlier this month to allay rising frustration among government employees, Mrs. Tang How\u00a0challenged reports that the administration had given employees an ultimatum, contending that $19 million had already been appropriated<\/a><\/span> by the Senate for the raises. But in the same breath, Mrs. Tang How said some unions had taken the government\u2019s offer \u2014 which she admitted included language asking employees to forego the retro monies \u2014 refusing, she said, to wait any longer to receive their salary increases while negotiations continued. Mrs. Tang How added that employees who were part of unions that had agreed to the government\u2019s terms, would start seeing their step increases this month \u2014 \u00a0but not unions still in negotiations \u2014 contradicting her statement that negotiations would not get in the way of increases.<\/p>\n

When pressed to speak specifically to the issue of whether the proposals that the conforming unions agreed to included language that forfeited retroactive pay, Mrs. Tang How dodged.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifferent unions agreed to different things; I don\u2019t have the information for the various unions in front of me. But I can tell you that some unions have taken the position that their workers want to see their salary increases and they\u2019re not going to hold up or not address their salary increases by trying to hold on to discussions relative to retroactive wages,\u201d she said. Mrs. Tang How\u2019s comments appear to mean that the salary increases that Governor Kenneth Mapp promised are indeed tied to whether government employees were willing to forego their retroactive monies.<\/p>\n

The Consortium asked Mrs. Tang How for clarification and to clearly state whether or not the unions that agreed to the government\u2019s proposal had forfeited their retroactive monies, but the chief negotiator\u2019s response remained elusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could tell you that those unions that have decided that they\u2019d rather get their salary increases and not retro, are actually having NOPAs (Notice of Personnel Action) processed, so they can get paid and will be seeing in April, their salary increases,\u201d she said, again ducking the question and suggesting that retro pay and salary increases were inseparable.<\/p>\n

Yet, even with all the elusiveness, Mrs. Tang How went on to promise that government employees would indeed receive their pay regardless of negotiations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ST. THOMAS — Division of Personnel Director Milton Potter said Tuesday that the first set of government employees would begin seeing raises in this week\u2019s paycheck, according to Government House press release. The announcement follows a recent job action by teachers in this district, who said they were vexed by government negotiations that asked unions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[228,11,854,2474,147],"tags":[3370,1055,2045,121],"yoast_head":"\nSome Government Employees Beginning To See Salary Increases, Mapp Administration Says - V.I. 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I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Some Government Employees Beginning To See Salary Increases, Mapp Administration Says - V.I. 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