Give us more money! - Police federation demands appealing wage package
Published:Monday | July 16, 2018 | 12:00 AMCarlene Davis/Gleaner Writer
Corporal Arleen McBean, chairman of the Police Federation, has said that the latest wage offer from the Government was a gross disrespect to rank-and-file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
McBean, in a press release yesterday, demanded that a liveable wage be established and called for "slavery" to be abolished. She explained to The Gleaner yesterday that the police needed a salary that would improve their standard of living.
"A liveable wage for us is something that will help us cover sufficiently the rent, the transportation, the groceries, the health, the light bill, the water rate, the phone bill and the Internet bill. We have not included education, buying clothes or beds to sleep on," McBean said.
LOWEST-LEVEL SALARY
According to the Police Federation head, a constable at the lowest level received gross salary of $63,000 per month. She suggested that this amount be increased to at least $100,000. While she did not disclose the amount offered to them, she insisted that it was far less than they were expecting.
"We went to the table and started the negotiation process in October 2017. It was $720,000 before. Since the increase, it is now $756,000. As it relates to what was offered, I will not go into that because we are still at the negotiation table," she said.
McBean added that the rank-and-file police remain restive and urgently need a meaningful and amicable closure to this long-standing impasse.
"You don't want to know that you are out there giving a 100 per cent to the citizens of Jamaica when at home there is probably no light, no water and no stove to cook on. I know our employers take us as the persons who stand as buffers between the criminals and good citizens, and that alone must be the value reflected in the remuneration process," said McBean.