CONTRACT TO PENSION

Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke on Tuesday announced that hundreds of low-skilled workers in public schools as well as garbage collection workers who have worked without benefits for years will now become pensionable as their status have been upgraded from contract workers to permanent employees.

Clarke said the change in schools is being effected under the Reform of Contract Work in the Public Sector in the Ministry of Education. Among those to benefit are hundreds of cooks, watchmen and sanitation workers.

“This Government is going to resolve this longstanding issue. We will create the post codes required to elevate 716 cooks and [52] assistant cooks in our school system, from contract employment to permanent employment … ,” he said to applause.

In detailing the decision, Clarke said that from time to time, policy changes or new policy directives have resulted in the hiring of personnel in infant, primary or secondary schools to get work done. However, proper procedures have not been followed, resulting in more than 8,522 persons employed in schools without an established position though they are being compensated and work their legal hours and more.

In addition to the contract workers in the schools, he said that the audit found that there were 4,460 vacant posts, of which 636 were recommended to be abolished.

Clarke said that cooks at the primary level are usually engaged on contract and work only when schools are in session. Regardless of how long they have worked, they have no pension upon retirement.

In addition, 367 schools regular watchmen working on contract and without post codes will now have their status changed.

After announcing that there would be no new taxes for the sixth consecutive financial year, Clarke told the House that the 659 persons employed as caregivers in early childhood institutions will also move from contract workers to permanent employment.

According to him, for every 20 students, there is a need for a caregiver and a teacher, and one teacher to 10 students. This requirement has seen an exponential increase in caregivers in recent years.

Clarke also announced changes for sanitation workers employed by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

“[They] are literally working permanently while on short-term contract, sanitation workers. You see them in the rain on di truck back, you see them in the sun on di truck back. Dem a jump off, tek up the rubbish, and move to the next gate. You see the passion that they put into their job … ,” Clarke said during an animated presentation.

“When COVID a bite and man a tan a dem yard, you look through the window and you see the sanitation worker,” he said.

“In fiscal year 2023-2024, we will make sanitation workers at the NSWMA, who have completed the necessary probationary periods, into permanent employees,” Clarke announced.

The workers to become permanent staffers total just under 2,000 and will include sidemen, landfill workers, drivers, mechanics, enforcement officers, and other sanitation workers.

Carol Francis, who has worked for 13 years as a sanitation worker in the Kingston and St Andrew Metropolitan Area, said that after working for so long, she is pleased that she and her colleagues would be permanently employed.

“I am very glad that the situation is now changed, and we don’t’ have to be fighting for things that we should be getting. We are essential workers, and when garbage people don’t work, you see what happens. So I am very happy for the change in our situation,” she told The Gleaner.

Clarke admitted that under the current arrangement, sanitation workers cannot make proper plans for their future.

Assistant island supervisor of the National Workers Union (NWU), Dexroy Martin, was pleased with the disclosures.

“The announcement is welcomed and comes after representation has been made by the union. It is something that we brought to the attention of the minister last year, when the four per cent salary was introduced to public sector workers and there was none for the sanitation workers. It was pointed out that they were not on the establishment, and since then, there have been negotiations and meetings for them to be on the establishment,” he told The Gleaner.

Martin said the union’s island supervisor, Granville Valentine; the NSWMA; and the finance ministry had several consultations on the matter.

He noted that despite this, there are still some remaining issues to be ironed out.

Negotiations are also currently under way with the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) for doctors in the public healthcare system to become permanent employees.

There are approximately 1,754 doctors in the system of which 354 have permanent posts.

JMDA President Dr Mindi Fitz-Henley said a meeting is scheduled with the finance minister today at 3 p.m., where the matter will come up for discussion.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com