Workers yet to be brought onto new compensation scheme restive

 

Workers yet to receive the updated pay under the upgraded public sector compensation package are said to be restive.

 

President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), Helene Davis Whyte, says no talks have begun for employees of statutory bodies and agencies of government.

 

A new pay regime for public sector workers started in December with several previously received benefits being rolled into the substantive pay for employees.

 

Mrs Davis Whyte said a plan of action should be forthcoming from the government this week with regards to the other workers who have not yet benefitted. 

 

She warned that there would be "problems in those agencies" if the government does not supply this information as promised. 

 

Mrs Davis Whyte, who was speaking Monday morning on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, said negotiation on increases for contract workers is being negatively affected by how the contracts are worded.

 

Several unions have raised concerns in relation to the delay in concluding wage talks for contract workers within the public sector.

 

The JCTU head said some contract workers are in established posts for which the increase can be easily applied, while the remainder will require more engagement between the unions and the government. 

 

"Some of the contracts are worded such that the contract workers are not aligned to a particular public sector classification. And in this compensation review, what you are looking at is how people will move in their current classification to the new pay bands. So if they are not in the classification, it becomes difficult to determine where they are or where they will go to," she explained. 

 

Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke has stressed that the negotiations must be wrapped up this fiscal year. 

 

He said he is ready to resume discussions on the new compensation scheme with public sector unions representing more than 40,000 employees.

 

"As I've said before, we don't have the space in next year to carry the back pay, if I should call it that. The back pay amounts are very significant. We have made space for it this year, and it's very important that we're able to pay it out this year," he insisted.