Public sector relieved gov't not pursuing wage-to-GDP cap

 

The Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) says public sector workers are relieved following news on Tuesday that the government will no longer be pursuing a cap on wages to a percentage of GDP.

 

Opening the Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday for the 2025/2026 financial year, Finance Minister Fayval Williams said the focus on the public sector has to shift to pay for performance, efficiency in service delivery and improvement in productivity.

 

JCTU President St. Patrice Ennis says he is happy that the Finance Minister has also indicated that there will be no public sector wage freeze.

 

"I am glad the minister has laid out what would be the guiding principles with respect to how wages is treated and that we have moved away from that policy.... The public sector review/classification or restructure if you will, we did that to move away from such policies such as wage freeze, such as wage constraint, and so what will now be guiding us is debt to GDP ratio and so on," said Mr. Ennis, who was speaking Tuesday on Radio Jamaica Beyond the Headlines.

 

Last December, Chairman of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), Keith Duncan, recommended the cap against the background of growing concerns over the increasing share of public sector salaries relative to the nation's economic output.

 

Trade unionists issued a strong rebuke, saying the workers cannot return to austerity-era limits to stabilise public finances.

 

Meanwhile, Mr. Ennis said the trade union group is in support of a pay-per-performance system for public sector workers, but warned that it may be complicated. 

 

"We have never been averse to that and we have a new appraisal system that is now in the public sector and we are open to such discussions as we know that is one form of measuring productivity, and so we have never been averse. As a matter of fact, we have encouraged governments to embark on such a policy but the devil is in the detail as what exactly that means in going forward," he acknowledged. 

 

As the government prepares for the new fiscal year, Finance Minister Fayval Williams on Tuesday said progress is already being made in the implementation of the pay-for-performance element within the new compensation framework.

 

She noted that the government has initiated discussions with union partners to ensure a collaborative and structured approach to the system's rollout.??The pay-for-performance model is expected to drive greater accountability and efficiency, aligning compensation with measurable outcomes and service excellence.