Finance Ministry calls meeting with unions amid ongoing wage talks

 

The Ministry of Finance has called a meeting for Friday with public sector trade unions amid the ongoing wage negotiations.

 

It's also expected that the meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m., will be used to outline the financial position of the government.

 

Vincent Morrison, President of the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), made the disclosure while speaking Thursday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106. 

 

Mr. Morrison expressed apprehension about the meeting to be convened at the Jamaica Conference Centre in light of the Independent Fiscal Commission again recommending that the government must consider reintroducing a ceiling on wages and salaries following its latest assessment of the Dr. Andrew Holness administration's fiscal performance.

 

In response to a Gleaner query, the Commission said the reintroduction of a cap will increase productability in public sector wages and fiscal operations, improving allocation of public expenditure, which is necessary to limit crowding out of spending in other critical areas.

 

Fiscal Commissioner Courtney Williams first put forward the position in March, indicating that tying wages to gross domestic product would help drive productivity. 

 

The UCASE President is not happy with the position of the IFC and has reiterated his stance that there should be no cap on wages. 

 

"Now, the government just came out with an election and to have heard this coming through now, I think it's a big disappointment because the government has always made it clear that they have money, that the economy is doing well, that they have managed the fiscal side of the economy extremely well and whatever. Now, we have been asked to attend a meeting tomorrow at the Jamaica Conference Centre [by] the Minister of Finance, and I'm almost sure what the Minister of Finance is going to tell us tomorrow. Everybody has been called, in my view, to be given a directive, to be told that this is it. And I can tell you, my union is not going to accept that," he warned.

 

Last month, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), the largest public sector union, received a revised wage off of 2% in year one of the 2025-27 contract period. 

 

The offer of 2.5% in each of the remaining two years of the contract was unchanged.