Brigade drivers fire up wage protest
Published:Friday | August 27, 2021 | 12:10 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Inflamed by years-long stagnation in salaries and inertia in negotiations, more than 40 contracted drivers of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) staged an islandwide sickout and protest on Thursday to press for better remuneration.
The entrance to the brigade’s Hagley Park Road offices was ground zero of the protest, with several demonstrators holding aloft placards demanding a wage hike.
Anthony Williamson, chief delegate, said drivers last received an increase in pay eight years ago.
“We tired of the management of brigade and the local government [ministry],” he told The Gleaner, citing the state of affairs as an injustice.
Williamson said that Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie, within whose purview the fire services fall, had promised to take the issue to Parliament after meeting with the drivers and their trade union representatives in 2018.
Williamson said they have yet to hear from McKenzie.
“We want him to come and settle this or else we will be back out here,” chimed an unidentified protester.
Public-sector workers are in another round of salary negotiations. Unions have roundly rejected a 2.5 per cent raise proposed by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.
The brigade drivers remain steadfast in their decision to demand for better salaries.
“We are not leaving. Tomorrow and the day after, we’ll be here,” said Williams.
“Because we are not trained firefighters, they discriminate against we, like we not supposed to be here,” said Paul Roberts, a driver for the Waterford Fire Station.
“We have families to feed and bills to pay just like anyone else, too,” said another protester.
Jamaica Fire Brigade’s Public Relations Manager Emeleo Ebanks declined comment on drivers’ protest, saying he was not aware of the basis of the action.
“I saw them there with placards and that’s about it,” Ebanks said.