In a press conference held at the Governor's office Friday morning, Arnaiz said government workers should enjoy their wage increase after almost 10 years without increase.
The wage increase for government workers, however, depends on the availability of funds.
The governor, however, assured that the Provincial Government itself can afford to do so.
But Arnaiz wants an across-the-board salary increase.
He explained that workers regardless of seniority will get the same amount of salary increase.
The Provincial Government has a total of more than, 1,700 regular and casual employees.
Like Arnaiz, Mayor Agustin Perdices of Dumaguete City is also pushing an across-the-board increase to its more than a thousand regular and casual employees of the City Government.
"What happens if the increase is just 10 percent is that those earning P10,000 will get additional of P1,000 but those earning P4,000 will only get an increase of P400," Perdices told Sun.Star Dumaguete.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in her New Year's message from the country's summer capital Baguio City, unwrapped a new salary package increasing the base pay of the 1.3 million government workers by an average of 10 percent in 2007.
The President said it is time for state employees to reap the fruits of a growing economy brought about by the tough economic reforms she initiated.
"We started 2006 with a pay hike for government workers and we will end it with a vow to do it again next year," she said.
"When we embarked on our mission to put our fiscal house in order, we asked government workers to share the burden of the people. Now that we have turned the corner, it is time for them to get their share of the social payback of economic reforms," the President added.
Arroyo said, "Come July, when the next legislature convenes, I will stand before our legislators to plead for the speedy passage of the third edition of the Salary Standardization Law, one that will not only increase the pay of state workers but boost the productivity of government as well."
She further said Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. will submit the bill seeking an increase in the basic salary of state workers, including members of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
"This bill governs the usage of the P10.3 billion, which we have set aside as the first installment of a merit-based, performance-driven compensation package for public sector workers," Arroyo said adding, "I am asking Congress to cap its impressive run of legislation with the passage of this important bill."
