Junior doctors restive over delay in concluding negotiations on overtime pay

By Kimone Witter    

 

Junior medical doctors are restive over the delay in concluding negotiations on overtime payment with the Ministry of Finance.

 

The doctors are also concerned that the overtime policy to be implemented for the public sector will not take into account the unique working conditions for health care workers.

 

The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association, which represents the group, issued a release Thursday expressing frustration with the Ministry of Finance's lack of response to its requests for meetings.

 

Speaking Friday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, JMDA President Dr. Mindi Fitz-Henley said the most recent letter was sent to the Ministry on January 9.

 

She said a response was received Thursday night after the association had released its statement to the media. 

 

"We are hoping to have a meeting. We're pushing desperately for a meeting.... So our next step, of course, is to respond formally to their letter that they sent last night. But in that letter, it does not give us a date for another meeting. It states that they are far advanced in their discussions with their stakeholders and that we will be updated once they have anything further on the matter. But that is not acceptable to us or our members. It has to be that it is a negotiation, that we're able to sit at the table," she insisted, adding that the health sector should be treated differently in relation to overtime policy.

 

Dr. Fitz-Henley said the association has taken note of a statement issued last week Friday by Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke indicating that the government had been actively working with public sector unions and staff associations to arrive at a final policy to govern overtime payment.

 

An agreement is expected by the end of March.

 

But the JMDA president said it appears the plight of doctors has been forgotten.

 

"It's lovely for other persons who have been able to have this engagement. But we have not been so lucky. And as the junior doctors who are working day in and day out, it cannot be that we are left out of the conversation. You know, other persons were even lucky enough to get an offer in December. We have not been able to have meetings to actually be able to discuss anything at all," she complained. 

 

The JMDA president said junior doctors are being underpaid for overtime work as it is being calculated based on old rates. 

 

"Our overtime is being paid more than 30?low from what it should be.  Our overtime has never been at 1.5 or two times the amount, never. And so we always recognise that it needed to be fixed. And so the fact that it was going to be fixed now, we thought that we could get somewhere. And I mean, the dates are dragging on. It should have been done from April, then it was postponed to the summer. Then now here we are still six months after that. When is the deadline going to be? And is retroactive going to be paid?" Dr. Fitz-Henley questioned.