Government to settle NAJ issue

The Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) has given the government until the end of today to settle all outstanding allowances owed to its members.



The NAJ says members have not been paid sessions, standby, taxi and supper allowances for November.



Last week, the health ministry issued a statement in which it claimed all allowances owed to nurses were paid up in full.



The head of the NAJ, Edith Allwood Anderson, has rejected the health ministry’s claim.



The NAJ president says although the health ministry had received the money the nurses were not receiving the payments.



Mrs Allwood Anderson says nurses at the University Hospital of the West Indies are owed up to two years’ meal allowance.



The health ministry is insisting that nurses who submitted claims in keeping with the payment policy have been paid in full.



The nurses are insisting the allowances be settled in light of a decision by the finance ministry to grant nurses a loan of only $50,000.



The association had asked the finance ministry for a non-taxable loan of US$2,000 or its equivalent of J$150,000 for each registered nurse.



However, last week the finance ministry said it was willing to grant each registered nurse a loan of $50,000, subject to 25 per cent tax and which would be recovered at the end of the 2008-2010 negotiations.



The NAJ has scheduled a meeting for December 29 when nurses are expected to make a decision on the way forward.