JCSA says announced salary increase for public sector workers disingenuous

The Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) says Finance Minister Fayval Williams' announcement that the movement of up to three increments in the salary scale for eligible public sector workers will amount to an increase in basic salary of approximately 7.5% for most persons this fiscal year, is disingenuous. 

 

Minister Williams in a statement on Monday said the decision to allow movement up to three increments in this fiscal year was reached through discussions with the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU).

 

Minister Williams contrasted the new arrangement with the system in place before reforms to public sector compensation in 2022.

 

Under the old system, only one increment was granted annually and only if an employee scored 75% or more on the performance management and appraisal system.

 

But JCSA President Techa Clarke-Griffiths says movement of up to three increments is not a gift.

 

"What has happened, we should have moved every year by one increment. So it is something that we are entitled to from 2022. And what the minister did not say is that we would have given up our retroactive payments. So we did not get any retroactive payment from 2022 to 2025 on the outstanding increment. Because we considered country, and at the time we had [Hurricane] Beryl, we looked at both issues and we recognised that it would have been a significant financial cost to the government, and so we considered that too," she asserted. 

 

The finance minister's announcement comes amid rumblings in the public sector following reports that the government's wage offer does not include increases in basic salaries for the 2025-26 financial year, which began on April 1 and ends on March 31 next year. 

 

Meanwhile, Mrs. Clarke-Griffiths explained that not all civil servants will benefit. 

"Organisations that are new, for example, the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, that is a constitutionally new ministry, those persons would not be qualified neither for increment movements until this year or for concessions. So we have lost some of our benefits and persons who have been transitioned into new entities would not be so entitled. Therefore, there are persons in public service who will not benefit from none of the increments. It means, therefore, that between 2022 and, as a matter of fact, if you come in on the 2nd of April, you would not be entitled to three because the circular says 'in your substantive post on or before April 1, 2022,'" said the JCSA president.

The Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions also shared similar concerns, noting that public officers who started working on or after April 1, 2025, as well as daily paid and casual workers are excluded from the payment of increments announced by the finance minister.

The JCTU said this exclusion raises serious concerns about fairness and equity within the public service. The confederation is insisting that all workers who contribute meaningfully to the operations of the state should receive equitable treatment, adding that under Public Service Regulations 38, the payment of increments is not discretionary.

In the meantime, the JCTU has said it is deeply concerned that the finance minister has failed to respond to its June 12 letter requesting the start of wage negotiations for the 2025-28 period. It reiterated that public sector workers have interpreted the continued silence as a sign of disregard for their concerns and a departure from good faith negotiating practices.