Mapp order raised executive-branch minimum wage to $13 and increased base pay for teachers and other workers

Gov. Kenneth E. Mapp signed an executive order on July 30, 2018, raising the minimum wage for all executive-branch employees in the U.S. Virgin Islands to $13 an hour effective August 1, 2018, and increasing base salaries for teachers, social workers and other government positions.

Government House said the order applied to teachers, firefighters, corrections officers, emergency medical technicians, environmental officers, police officers, enforcement officers, social workers, Head Start teachers and other executive-branch employees. It said workers already earning more than the new base salaries would have their wages addressed through collective bargaining.

According to the administration, the new government minimum wage amounted to $27,040 annually. Mapp said in the order that some public-sector positions had remained vacant or understaffed because entrance salaries were too low.

Government House said the administration had identified more than 150 vacant teacher positions in the Education Department during the 2017-18 school year. It also said the public-sector minimum wage had not been increased in more than a decade.

The administration said the increases would be funded in part by revenue tied to the ArcLight Capital and Limetree Bay refinery agreement. During a July 30, 2018 news conference, Mapp also called on the legislative and judicial branches to enact similar minimum-wage increases.

At the same news conference, Police Commissioner Delroy Richards announced a joint police recruit class from St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John that was scheduled to begin six months of training at the Police Academy on St. Croix on August 6, 2018.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/base-salary-for-teachers-increased-to-44000-minimum-wage-for-all-executive-branch-employees-raised-to-13-per-hour/