JCTU issues ultimatum for compensation review revelation
Published:Saturday | April 9, 2022 | 12:10 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
There is increasing disquiet in the public sector with the powerful Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) yesterday giving the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service an April 11 ultimatum to furnish the findings of the compensation review for the public sector.
In a release yesterday under the signature of JCTU President Helene Davis Whyte, the union group made it clear that it could not guarantee normality in the public sector if the ministry failed to provide all documentation requested relating to the compensation review by Monday.
The JCTU’s ultimatum comes in the wake of a statement yesterday by Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke on the proposed removal of duty concession for public-sector workers.
On Thursday, Clarke stated that the elimination of the duty concession to travelling officers in the public sector would not place them at a disadvantage.
The minister was responding to news of unease among members of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) after reports surfaced that the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service had announced plans to eliminate duty concession under the Government’s compensation restructuring exercise to take effect this fiscal year.
“The employee, who today is entitled to a duty concession once every five years, will not be disenfranchised. The new salary will exceed the old salary by an amount that exceeds the value of the duty concession and other allowances that will be absorbed and/or discontinued,” Clarke said in a statement to this newspaper.
He pointed out that duty concession is available to a large minority of public servants and is accessible once every five years.
“This benefit can be quantified and much more efficiently delivered through annual salary,” he said.
But the Davis Whyte-led group has seemingly accused Clarke of attempting to “divide and rule member unions of the JCTU”.
Taking direct aim at Clarke, the JCTU expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which he “has been communicating the Government’s position as if it were the agreed position between the unions and the Government”.
“The minister has been advised that normalcy cannot be guaranteed in the public sector if the information is not provided by next Monday and if a meeting is not held in the next two weeks to begin the process of finalising the compensation review,” the JCTU declared.
The JCTU says it needs the information to properly analyse the results of the consultant’s report and recommendations in order to complete discussions with a view to finalising the exercise.