Rank and file police officers restive over delayed payments

By Halshane Burke    

 

Rank and file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force are reportedly restive over the length of time it is taking to implement outstanding items under the current compensation package.

 

A one-off payment to rank and file officers, which was proposed by the Ministry of Finance, was agreed to by an overwhelming number of delegates, however, no date has been given for the payments to be made.

 

Chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation, Sergeant Arleen McBean, says when the offer was accepted, the request was made for the one-off payment to be made by October 31, but there was no information forthcoming.

 

Sergeant McBean says she wrote to the current finance minister, Fayval Williams, to have the matter settled. 

 

"She has responded and indicated that we will get the communication from one of her representatives of the new date to meet. We will be having an island-wide meet of all delegates and we will update them accordingly. After those discussions, we will communicate with the Ministry of Finance as also advise our commissioner of what is happening because our members are quite uncomfortable," said the federation chairman. 

 

"This money has been owed from the first year of the contractual period and the contract period under that compensation review is 2022-2025. And we have been asking for that added hours money for some time now," she lamented, calling it shameful and "unfortunate that the pioneers of national security have to be, at this point, begging to be paid what is owed to them".  

 

Sergeant Mcbean said the officers have been patient, but their patience is waning. 

 

She added that there are other longstanding issues that need to be settled under the compensation review, but for which there has been no update.

 

"So I'm hoping that the new minister will just settle what is happening as rank and file members. Those issues could have been settled before. However, they are low-hanging fruits. Let's see how quickly we can move them out of the way," she said. 

 

In the meantime, Sergeant McBean said the upcoming negotiating period will also be discussed at the meeting with the delegates. 

 

"We also received a document from [the ministry] inviting a proposal. A proposal is not an issue for us to put together. Our meeting coming up with our membership we will look at some deeper consultation for them to have that level of understanding and there will be a high level of inclusion as well, to put that proposal together and submit to the government. But you cannot invite for a proposal when there is a failure to pay us what is owed to us," she stressed.