JMDA: We are demanding our pound of flesh

Accusing the Government of shifting the goalposts in their long-standing overtime dispute, the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) on Monday urged the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) to deliver justice as they seek compensation for extra hours worked.

“You will hear that having agreed to conclude discussions by 31st of March 2023, that the MoFPS (Ministry of Finance and the Public Service) moved the goalposts from April 2023 to July 2023, to May 2024, and to August 2024,” said veteran trade unionist Senator Lambert Brown, who represents the JMDA.

“The slithering conduct runs contrary to good-faith negotiations. The Government cannot be allowed to shift the goalposts in the middle of the game to avoid their agreed obligation,” he told the three-member IDT panel.

Brown reminded the tribunal that doctors are bound by a 1992 heads of agreement mandating them to work emergency shifts, meaning, they have no discretion over overtime.

The JMDA and the Ministry of Health and Wellness, along with the MoFPS, have been locked in a dispute over emergency work hours since 2023. It escalated in December when doctors staged industrial action. Although they resumed duties following an intervention by the Ministry of Labour, no agreement was reached, prompting a referral to the IDT.

Brown said doctors were “compelled to come before you”, not out of choice, but because of the referral. Still, he noted that they remain open to compromise.

However, he cautioned the panel that the Government has a record of breaching agreements with medical staff and other public-sector workers.

“We are demanding our pound of flesh now. We are not going to tolerate the Government breaching another heads of agreement, and the tribunal should not allow it,” Brown charged in his opening submission.

Brown rejected claims that the JMDA has been inflexible, calling the Government’s assertion false. He also disputed the Government’s estimated $103-billion cost for a settlement, calling it exaggerated. If accurate, he argued, each of the 2,143 doctors would receive roughly $3.8 million monthly in overtime – an implausible figure.

According to JMDA calculations, the Government’s figure is more than twice their own estimate. Even so, Brown acknowledged that their lower estimate would still make it the largest case ever heard by the IDT.

He also criticised the Government’s lack of data on how many doctors it employs or the actual cost of emergency duty allowances. The JMDA estimates that about 2,500 doctors currently work in the public health system.

In its proposal, the Government has set a 15-hour ceiling on extra hours worked per week by public-sector workers.

Brown argued that a single day of scheduled emergency duty would exceed the weekly limit of extra work.

The JMDA said relative to doctors and the nature of their work, the emergency work programme is absurd, impractical, and could do serious harm to an already-inadequate healthcare system.

In making its submission, the JMDA pointed out that some doctors have had to work 24 hours every other day of the month.

Brown said the normal workweek of 40 hours is supposed to be 160 hours per month, but this does not apply to doctors.

He explained that the weekend roster is often a 24-hour shift, each day.

“A doctor could be rostered for the weekend and literally work 48 hours on the weekend,” Brown said.

Further, he said, some doctors work straight from 8 a.m. on Friday to 4 p.m. on Monday, completing 80 hours of consecutive work, or 10 consecutive eight-hour shifts.

The Government will make its submission before the panel later this month.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com