Unresolved matters in Gov’t wage negotiations

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Around 2002, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) employed the strategy of joint bargaining to deal with negotiations for certain categories of workers in the public sector. The decision to reject or accept has always been through the process of a simple majority, which requires a minimum of six unions agreeing on a similar position.

To affirm legitimacy of an agreement, all documentation for the categories of workers covered under the agreement must be certified by the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) and the JCTU.

There can only be an agreement if all the participating unions have the requisite documentation to prepare the responses for negotiation. None of these processes have taken place. A meeting was called on November 8, where all unions involved could examine those concerns.

Member unions who had raised concerns, have reportedly shared them without the input from the collective. Specific points of debate that remain open include:

n The GOJ insisted on the simplification of the number of salary scales, however, there’s ambiguity, as the GOJ has indicated that they would operate on a salary scale of 16 bands across the public sector. To date, we have seen at least three variations of scales for different categories of workers. This defeats the purpose and confuses the intent of the GOJ. Also, we have not seen the updated scales.

Many unions highlighted an issue starting at base of the scale, to discuss and formulate positions to send to the GOJ. Instead, there was a response of a sliding scale that, from our perspective, does not represent the consensus and needs further explanation.

There are several unresolved issues in this review that the GOJ have advised will be dealt with after the signing. Member unions are concerned, as the track record of the GOJ suggests that it’s a formal way to move some of these items to the proverbial file 13.

There are issues such as combining salaries and allowances, for which details have not yet been provided. Also, there is no agreement to date regarding the removal of motor vehicle duty concessions.

Any compensation review must be done equitably. There’s a disproportionate distribution of benefits, where top earners would benefit as much as 150 per cent, while middle- to low-income earners are at approximately 30-50 per cent. While top earners are better able to overcome inflation, middle- to low-income earners are exposed.

With many unresolved issues from as far back as 2012, we would be disenfranchising many of our members seeking redress. The JCTU is requesting comprehensive documentation from the Ministry of Finance for concluding the negotiations and final agreement.

ST PATRICE ENNIS

General Secretary – UTASP

KHURT FLETCHER

Vice President & Island Supervisor – NWU