On September 8, the Surinamese government implemented a new pay resolution that delivers a 15% general wage increase to most civil servants, effective September 1, but carves out key exceptions for thousands of workers across the country’s healthcare and judicial sectors.
Nearly all staff at the nation’s largest public and private non-profit hospitals, as well as employees of the Regional Health Service (RGD), will not receive the across-the-board salary bump. The government justifies this exclusion by announcing that a custom, standalone pay scale will be rolled out for this group of healthcare workers in the near future.
The list of excluded institutions covers almost every major healthcare provider in Suriname: the National Hospital Council-affiliated Academic Hospital Paramaribo, ‘s Lands Hospitaal, Diakonessenhuis, Sint Vincentius Hospital, Wanica Regional Hospital, the Suriname Psychiatric Center, Mungra Medical Center, Marwina District Hospital, and Atjoni District Hospital. The RGD, which operates under its own separate collective labor agreement, is also included in the exemption.
While the government explicitly confirms that a revised pay structure is forthcoming for these healthcare workers, the new resolution offers no concrete details on the timeline for implementation, the size of potential adjustments, or the structure of the new salary scales. This leaves thousands of frontline healthcare employees without clarity on when or how much their pay will be adjusted.
For all other civil servants and equivalent public sector workers, the 15% monthly salary increase was formalized through the September 8 resolution following collective bargaining negotiations with multiple labor unions. The increased pay will be issued to eligible workers at the end of September.
Beyond the healthcare sector, the judiciary forms a second category of excluded workers, but for a distinct procedural reason. President Jennifer Simons reached an agreement with a delegation led by the President of the High Court of Justice that the general 15% increase would not apply to judicial branch members. Separate tailored pay arrangements are currently being developed for both sitting and standing magistrates.