NAJ to meet today
Published:Monday | December 29, 2008 | 9:20 AM
Members of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) are to meet this morning to continue discussions regarding outstanding allowances owed to its members.
The association had given the government until December 23, to settle all outstanding allowances owed to registered nurses.
The association says its meeting today will be used to assess the government’s response to the nurses’ claim and also to decide on the way forward.
The nurses have warned that normalcy cannot be guaranteed at the island’s public health facilities if all outstanding monies owed to them are not paid.
The NAJ says some members have not been paid sessions, standby, taxi and supper allowances for November.
The NAJ claims some members at the University Hospital of the West Indies have not been paid supper allowances for up to two years.
The nurses are insisting that the allowances be settled in light of a decision by the finance ministry to grant nurses a loan of only 50 thousand dollars.
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.
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.