Al-Darrat calls for comprehensive reform of wages and public administration
LIBYA – Saif Al-Din Al-Darrat, a human resources expert and labour adviser at the Libyan Ministry of Labour, has said that unifying salaries is a legitimate right for employees, but should not be limited to equalising pay; rather, it should form part of a comprehensive reform of public administration that achieves social and job fairness and provides workers with a decent standard of living.
Pay disparities and the rising cost of living
In comments to Sputnik, Al-Darrat said the problem concerned disparities between institutions and sectors, and the weak ability of salaries to cover the needs of employees and their families for housing, food, education, health and transport.
He said large numbers of state employees were struggling to balance their monthly income against living costs despite long years of service.
Gaps between senior posts and ordinary grades
He pointed to large disparities in pay and benefits between some political, executive and senior posts and oversight bodies on the one hand, and ordinary employees who rely on their basic salary on the other, calling for a review of the relationship between salaries, privileges and living costs, without passing sweeping judgements on all workers.
Fairness does not mean the same salary for everyone
He stressed that differences in the nature of jobs, responsibilities, qualifications, experience and risks required objective and unified criteria for evaluating jobs and setting fair pay for each, rather than absolute equality in salaries.
Three conditions for successful unification
Al-Darrat set out three key considerations: fairness between similar jobs; guaranteeing a minimum level of purchasing power that provides a decent living; and linking pay to responsibility, competence and merit to put the right person in the right place.
Controlling staffing, performance and promotions
He called for salary reform to be tied to reform of public administration by tackling duplicate employment, controlling staffing tables, developing performance evaluation mechanisms and linking promotions to professional development and achievement, so as to build a more productive administration with clearer rights and duties.
Protecting acquired rights and allowing appeals
He said unifying wages required a legislative framework that protects acquired rights and prohibits harm to employees’ financial and employment status during the transition to the new system, along with a review of the legal rules on bonuses and allowances and no unjustified cuts to entitlements.
He also stressed the need for unified classification and evaluation criteria, no discrimination between jobs of equal value because they belong to different administrative bodies, the transparent publication of salary and allowance tables and eligibility criteria, and clear mechanisms for complaints and appeals before the competent authorities.
He said the project’s success would be measured by its ability to achieve fairness, improve living standards and balance the relationship between the state and its employees, not merely by issuing a unified scale.
