STALEMATE - Public-sector groups, Government fail to agree on way forward
Published:Friday | June 3, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Nadisha Hunter, Staff Reporter
Public-sector union leaders have come away disappointed after the latest round of wage talks with a Government yesterday ended in deadlock.
The groups, which include the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), the police bargaining units, the Jamaica Medical Doctors' Association (JMDA) and the Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ), were called to a meeting by the Government in an attempt to end the long-standing dispute over the seven per cent wage increase.
The Government's latest proposal, which was presented at the meeting, was dismissed by the groups.
rejected earlier proposal
The angry public-sector workers had recently rejected a government proposal for them to give up one year of retroactive salaries.
State minister in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Arthur Williams, said the Government in its latest proposal suggested that the seven per cent wage increase be implemented in September 2011, with the amounts due for April to August 2011 being paid monthly between September and March next year.
As for the amount outstanding for the two years of the wage freeze - April 2009 to March 2011 - the Government proposed to pay the two years' arrears amounting to approximately $20 billion over the five-year period beginning April 2013 through to March 2018 at the rate of $4 billion per year.
However, the public-sector groups are having none of it.
The unions demanded that the wage increase be implemented in August, with the amounts for April to July also being paid in August. They insisted that payment of the full amount of approximately $20 billion be made between June and December 2012.
During a press conference yesterday at the JTA's head office, the groups expressed their disappointment with the Government's most recent position and made it clear that they were still agitated over the seven per cent owed to the members.
"The representatives of the associations, having heard the latest proposal from the Government in respect of the payment of outstanding arrears, wish to record our profound disappointment with the latest position as enunciated by the state minister (Williams) at the meeting today (yesterday)," Dr Shane Alexis, president of the JMDA, said during a joint conference with the JTA and the NAJ.
JTA President Nadine Molloy Young, in outlining the Government's position, said the outstanding sums would begin in 2013 over a five-year period with equal instalments in each year which, by the groups' calculations, would go up to 2019.
Molloy Young indicated that the groups would find it very difficult to take the proposal as an acceptable position to the memberships.
"The mood of public-sector workers is one of great dissatisfaction," argued NAJ President Anthonette Patterson. "They are disgruntled, frustrated, demotivated, burnt out and almost hopeless. We, however, felt that there must be a light at the end of this dark tunnel."
open to discussion
Patterson said the groups were open to further discussions with the Government before they move into any form of action.
The police representative groups said they were hoping the wage issue would be settled in short order.
"We are hoping that within very short order, the Government will invite us back to the table," said Superintendent Michael James, chairman of the Police Officers' Association. "Having had discussion with the state minister, we are expecting and we urge him to speak to his principal and indicate that we are ready to be called to the table at a moment's notice."
Sergeant Raymond Wilson, chairman of the Police Federation, also said his group was disappointed with the Government's latest position.
The groups said they would be putting the Government's latest offer to their members before deciding on the way forward.