Ethiopia: Disappointed employees appeal to PM over salary increments

WRITTEN BY BERHANU FEKADE
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The recently concluded Ethiopian fiscal year revealed the customary healthy profits for all the country’s financial institutions. Following the gains, it was routine for most of the giants to significantly increase salaries and bonuses, setting it apart from the rest of the economy.

However, unlike the custom of previous years, this time the outlook is surprisingly gloomy for most of the employees of public financial institutions.

Sentayehu Woldemichael (Ph.D.), director general of the Public Financial Enterprises Agency, said that salaries and additional benefits were responsible for this year’s record of lower profits. However, prior to his statement, the Ethiopian Insurance Corporation (EIC), one of the oldest institutions and a dominant player in the industry, was the most criticized company by employees, for the huge variations in pay between the managerial and midlevel staff. According to employees approached by The Reporter, the increased salaries range from 400 to 10 thousand birr. The EIC has 14 layered scales to determine the payroll.

The salary increment, according to employees of the EIC, is indiscriminately arranged, where nine to 14 senior staff members receive from 5,518 to 10,000 birr in addition to their previous salary. The increments below the ninth layer range from 400 to 1,220 birr respectively. Lower than the seventh layer, the upper limit hangs only at 750 birr, according to the complaint employees have submitted to the Office of the Prime Minister; to be specific, the finance and economic development sector.

Some 330 employees of the EIC signed petitions and submitted their complaints to the PM’s office and the parliament a few days ago, claiming they have been deprived of equitable payment for equal workloads. The complaints also mention that they have been denied the benefits and increments to which they are entitled. To worsen matters, both the EIC and the agency have neglected them in preparing and calculating the pay.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) is the other public enterprise that has upset employees for similar reasons. The CBE is in dispute with a large number of workers following the annual salary increments and bonuses. According to some employees, the CBE promised to make more than 60 percent increases. A frustrated staff member, who requested anonymity, told The Reporter that the CBE has approved a 100 percent rise to senior officials, leaving the lower staff with only 500 birr. The source said that the effort they have put in for handling the burden of the newly launched low cost housing project, in which the bank has the authority and ownership, was immense. The workers claim that they have been working extra hours to ensure unparalleled handling of customers throughout CBE branches in the capital, Addis Ababa. Employees of the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) have echoed similar disappointments over the Bank's increments.

Gabre Erkalo, the public relations officer for the agency, told The Reporter that the official responsible for responding to the issue is not available and that he personally knows nothing about the issue. However, officials at the EIC told the general assembly at a top-level managerial gathering that the corporation has made a decent increase to salaries.

According to Sentayehu, public financial enterprises have concluded the fiscal year amassing some 11.2 billion birr, 1.6 billion birr short of the target. The EIC ended up with 2.15 billion birr in collection of premiums, yet it has paid out some 630 million birr in compensation to insured parties. Currently, the EIC has 1,180 employees across the country.