The governor laid it out at yesterday’s cabinet meeting that one of his and Lemanu’s goals before leaving office is to upgrade the salaries of government employees – especially long serving workers who are at the bottom of the pay scale.
He said some people who have worked 30 years are only earning $12,000 to $14,000.
Lolo said directors should identify employees in their departments in this predicament and provide their names to the Department of Human Resources.
He used school bus drivers as an example.
He said many have worked for decades but their pay is not commensurate with their long service and duties.
Lolo said it’s no wonder some bus drivers sleep in and as a result students arrive at school close to 9 o’clock.
According to the governor he has assigned the Department of Human Resources to review the salaries of bus drivers, noting this is not DHR’s responsibility but the individual departments’.
He instructed directors to identify employees whose salaries should be increased, doing what is fair without basing their decisions on the identity of the employee.
Turning to federally-funded departments, Lolo said the Department of Homeland Security needed to review salaries for their supervisors.
He said it’s not fair that one supervisor earns $58,000 while another is paid $30,000.
The governor told the cabinet it’s the goal of he and Lemanu to offer our people higher salaries so they can lift their standard of living.
He said the task of finding money to do this is the government’s responsibility and this was one of the final objectives of their administration.
