JCSA members restive over delayed payment following settled wage matters

   

President of the Jamaica Civil Service Association, Techa Clarke Griffiths, says her members are restive as although outstanding matters under the public sector compensation review were settled, they are yet to take effect.

 

The exercise was concluded in September prior to the departure of former finance minister Dr. Nigel Clarke.

 

Mrs. Clarke Griffiths says the circulars with several long-standing issues have not been made public, which means her members are not benefitting from them.

 

She wants that to be done before the end of this month. 

 

"We would have written and sent out a press release last week indicating our restiveness, and that is the members of the Jamaica Service Association and the wider public service. We are expecting those circulars to come out before the end of November so that payment can be made. We did indicate that we are not willing to wait until December to get those payments," she noted. 

 

The funds to facilitate payments were included in the first supplementary estimates approved in Parliament on October 15.

 

Mrs. Clarke Griffiths said the outstanding matters include passenger mileage and overtime pay, retroactive to August 1. 

 

"And so we're expecting the financial secretary and also the new minister, to send out those circulars so that the public servants can be paid for those items that we have negotiated under a previous agreement.... So I'm hoping that we don't have to take drastic actions," she said. 

 

Mrs. Clarke Griffiths is awaiting a meeting with Finance Minister Fayval Williams to discuss the 2025-2027 wage claim.

 

The JCSA president was speaking with Radio Jamaica News following a project launch by the association at the Sydney Blake Early Childhood Institution in Mile Gully, Manchester, on Thursday.