PICA workers restive
Published:Friday | October 25, 2024 | 12:12 AMTanesha Mundle/Gleaner Writer
Workers at the Passport, Immigration, and Citizenship Agency (PICA) are reportedly restive over the reclassification exercise at the agency and are contemplating strike action.
The workers, including immigration personnel, reportedly became disgruntled after receiving their October pay this week and learning that junior and senior workers in the different departments have been lumped together and have been placed at the same level on the same scale regardless of qualification, tenure, and performance.
The workers are calling for the immediate intervention of the prime minister and the national security ministry, according to one worker.
“We are going to do everything that is legal, and if the Transformation Implementation Union in the finance ministry don’t meet with the union to revert what was done, we’re definitely going on strike,” the worker vowed.
According to another disgruntled employee, the vast majority of immigration officers have maxed out the level-four scale as they have been there for years and were promised that they would be moved to the level-five scale so that their payment would be in line with their counterparts in other agencies.
Category five has 13 points, and reportedly, it was agreed that the workers would be moved to at least 5.4 on the scale.
‘Sleepless night’
“What we found out yesterday is that officers who have been there 20 years, primary officers, were moved, after this exhaustive wage negotiation, one point on the scale.
“The very first point of a 13-point scale … rather than be at the fourth point, which is well overdue and well deserved, they’re starting us at the first point. This, basically, breaks the spirit of the wage negotiation, and we haven’t really got a real raise,” a worker shared.
“People had a sleepless night last night when they found out,” the worker continued, noting that staff morale is very low and that “shells of bodies are moving around”.
The workers expressed the view that the restructuring exercise was deliberately “sabotaged” and have accused the acting head of the agency, Garth Williams, of knowing about the decision and keeping it from the workers and the union.
“Every time we the staff, especially the immigration department, is expecting a benefit, is like a monkey wrench is thrown in at the last minute, like sabotage,” one worker said.
“How can you not correspond with our union to let them know what the finance ministry has agreed on? How can you agree to a first point on a 13-point scale for a collection of staff who have been working for so long?” the worker questioned.
The worker is contending that the reclassification is unfair to the workers and that many of them, especially those who are considered senior, are at a disadvantage.
“We see PICA as an agency that does not care about its staff. They act as if it’s their private business. They ensure that they get exorbitant salary increase, but when it come to the rest of the staff, they drag their feet.
“You are telling me that on a 13-point scale, we couldn’t surpass point one when under a normal promotion you would have passed it? It’s pathetic,” the worker lamented.
The disgruntled worker said the staff is of the view that the management is unable to efficiently run the agency and should hand it over to the Ministry of National Security.
Describing the agency as a “cesspool of incompetence” and stating that “nothing work here”, the employee said, “PICA stinks of incompetence and inefficiency”.
Meanwhile, Williams, when contacted yesterday and questioned as to whether he was aware that the staff was disgruntled over the reclassification exercise, said, “I can confirm that staff is at work, and the staff is working, and we are providing the service to our customers as we speak.”
Asked further if he was aware that the staff was disgruntled over the reclassification exercise and was contemplating industrial action, Williams replied: “I would not venture to comment on that. What I can tell you is the staff is at work and the staff is working.”
Additionally, he said, he was not aware of any intention of the staff to do what had been relayed.
In the meantime, Granville Valentine, general secretary of the National Workers’ Union, which is representing the staff, declined to comment on the situation but indicated that discussions are being had.