Aruba takes first step for phasing out salary reduction

News item | 24-06-2022 | 17:53

State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen of Kingdom Relations wants to give Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten the room to reduce the salary reduction. She is pleased that Aruba can now take the first step. "Everyone sees that the cost of living is currently rising sharply. It is therefore logical to look at phasing out the salary reduction. It is good that Aruba now sees possibilities for this."

The Netherlands has indicated four conditions for phasing out the salary reduction: 

• The introduction of the national ordinance on the standardisation of top incomes
• The money for the complete or partial reduction must be found within the own budget. The C(A)ft will verify this
• When the salary rebate has been completely abolished, there may no longer be a deficit in the budget unless there are new unforeseen circumstances
• The 25 per cent pay cut for political office holders remains in place for the time being

Furthermore, the countries have been asked to, if possible, at the time of the phasing out:

• In any case, to allow the salaries in the lowest scales to rise first, because those employees are hit hardest by the rising prices
• Be willing to pay attention to the cutbacks in employment conditions previously agreed upon in the country packages and keep doing so
• To consider the fact that, due to the phasing out of the reduction, the salary of some civil servants may be higher than that of political office holders, for whom the reduction of 25 percent remains in place.

State Secretary Van Huffelen expects that Curaçao and St. Maarten will also take steps soon to phase out the salary reduction. In order not to have to wait for the next RMR during the summer recess, the state secretary and the Minister of Finance have been authorised to assess and decide whether the conditions have been met.