Pay cut jitters

WESTERN BUREAU:

FOLLOWING REPORTS that the junior doctors’ highly anticipated salary scale meeting with the Ministry of Finance has been postponed, the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) is withholding comment on its own salary concerns until after its review of documents it recently received from the Government.

NAJ President Patsy Edwards-Henry, speaking with The Gleaner on Monday, said that the documents in question were given to the organisation last month.

“We met with the Government on April 13 and we got some documents, which we are in the process of analysing. We will make a fulsome statement as soon as we get a report from our consultant whom we have hired to help us with the analysis,” said Edwards-Henry.

Asked whether the NAJ – which represents 2,700 public-sector nurses – held any optimism regarding the final analysis of the documents in question, Edwards-Henry maintained that she would not be commenting further on the matter.

“We have no comment at this time as it relates to that. We are not ready to comment on how we feel about what has been presented,” said Edwards-Henry.

UNFAIR MOVE

But some nurses with whom The Gleaner spoke on Monday, who requested anonymity, were not quite so reserved in expressing their concerns that plans may be afoot to cut their salaries.

“It has always been the case that we need more money, and it is getting worse because, right now, they are trying to find ways to cut the amount of money paid out to nurses. We are not seeing it in our current salaries now, but they plan to cut our pay,” one nurse said stoutly.

Another nurse said that the information which was disseminated was not transparent enough for clarity, but said that if it involves salary deductions, such a move would be unfair.

“It is not really clear, because the NAJ was surprised when the information came out. The nurses’ concern is that it is basically a pay cut thing, but I do not know if it is the Government trying to pinch off a little bit of our ‘nothingness’ that we have been getting from morning,” the nurse told The Gleaner. “I don’t know if it is the hard times and inflation that is causing that, or if they are trying to find ways and means to save back money in their piggy bank, but it won’t be fair to us because we were not getting much from morning.”

Last December, the NAJ accepted a four per cent wage offer from the Government, after previously rejecting a 2.5 per cent wage increase offer for public-sector workers.

By contrast, last July the island’s junior doctors took industrial action to protest about lengthy working hours and non-renewal of employment contracts for over 140 doctors.

Last Friday, a meeting was to have been held between the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association and Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke regarding the salary scale for junior doctors. However, the meeting was called off, leaving the doctors in limbo over what their new salary scale will be under the Government’s public-sector compensation plan.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com