President of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS), Linvern Wright, has lambasted the recent salary realignment that saw parliamentarians and senior public officials receiving a staggering increase of 300 per cent, while public sector workers are now being offered a wage increase of zero per cent.

Wright described the move as a “mockery of shared sacrifice and solidarity with the people” and accused the government of driving a wedge between management and the working class in the public sector. According to Wright, the dramatic wage hike for senior officials has deeply eroded trust and created a perception of elitism within government ranks.

“The restructuring of salary was a restructuring of status within the public sector,” Wright declared. “It drove a nail in the coffin of trust between public sector workers and government/public sector managers.”

Wright also called out former Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke for what he described as a “disingenuous” and “insulting” justification of the increases.

“Nigel Clarke is certainly not a stupid man,” Wright said. “But his lowest moment in government was his disingenuous explanation of the need to pay those in leadership positions so much while remaining incoherent in his attempts to convince Jamaicans that line staff was significantly better off. His reasoning insulted both the intelligence and experience of the common man. In a moment that should have added to his credibility with Jamaicans,  he lost respect and trust with the public sector.”

Wright emphasised that Jamaicans are still reeling from the widening divide between political elites and ordinary citizens. He warned that the government’s current zero per cent wage offer to public sector workers is not only economically tone-deaf but politically dangerous.

“Jamaicans are not in a mood to take less and give more, while those who have been given more are delivering less, while the people see their livelihoods diminished daily by inflation,” he said.

The JAPSS head also dismissed as “an insulting token gesture” the widely publicised decision by the Prime Minister Andrew Holness and the Opposition Leader Mark Golding to forgo their personal salary increases.

“Truth is, it was always a drop in the bucket for them with their gold spoons, however acquired. None of them fooled anyone except for blind supporters of their parties.”

Wright’s comments come at a time of rising frustration among teachers and other essential service workers. Many see the government’s recent wage policies as a betrayal of the “shared sacrifices” once promised during times of austerity. “Sacrifice and struggle are for us. Prosperity is for them,” Wright said. “In this climate, no one will accept a zero per cent from any government. ”