Government

Vialet Introduces Bill to Raise Minimum Wage of Gov't Employees From $13 to $15 Per Hour

Senator Kurt Vialet has introduced legislation that would raise the minimum wage of government employees from $13 an hour to $15 an hour, moving their annual total from $27,040 to $32,000. The senator told the Consortium Wednesday that the measure is one of the last significant bills he plans on moving forward ahead of his exit from the Senate in January.  The raise would cover 971 employees and cost the government $4.5 million annually, according Jose George, post auditor of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. The current minimum wage for private sector employees in the USVI, which Mr. Vialet's measure does not address, is $10.50 per hour. "With inflation and the cost of everything it's hard for a living wage," Mr. Vialet said, referring to the current $27,040 annual income of some government employees. "A lot of these employees, for them it's having the ability to survive when everything is on the rise — from commodities to other goods —  everything around us." The veteran law...