MoBay Metro, union at odds over alleged salary overpayment

WESTERN BUREAU:

Workers at the Montego Bay Metro Bus Company (MBMBC) are expressing outrage about a potential move to reclaim sums after they were reportedly overpaid following a miscalculation in their retroactive salary payments after the public sector reclassification exercise in March.

According to the workers, the management of MBMBC informed them by way of letters that they were overpaid in the March salary package, and that the amount would be deducted from future salary payments.

“We do not believe what they are telling us. If it is true that the Ministry of Finance made a mistake, it should be the Ministry of Finance that should be talking to us about it,” said one of the aggrieved workers. “What we got as retroactive payment was negotiated by our union – the NWU – so management cannot take action without first consulting with our union.”

When Alexander Nicholson, the National Workers Union’s acting island supervisor, told The Gleaner that to the best of his knowledge, the compensation review for the workers was done and the monies properly paid out in March.

“The Ministry of Finance sent the calculated payment for each worker, followed by which the union met with Montego Bay Metro and reviewed the proposal, matched it to a scale and the payment was agreed upon,” said Nicholson.

“Montego Bay Metro did not calculate the figures; the figures were calculated by the Ministry of Finance. We are also now hearing that they are moving the employees from the scale that the Ministry of Finance put them on; and they are being placed on a lower scale. I said, ‘No way!’ Any such decision has to come from the Ministry of Finance,” added Nicholson.

However, Colin Murray, chairman of the MBMBC, told The Gleaner that the Ministry of Finance had blundered in its calculations and that, as a result, the state-owned bus company had overpaid its staff.

“The reality is that there was an error by the ministry in terms of the reclassification. I already gave instructions that we will not make any deduction until the ministry sorts it out. It’s nothing from Montego Bay Metro side. It’s an error from the ministry’s side in terms of reclassification.”

Murray further noted that last year when the realignment between MBMBC and the Jamaican Urban Transit Company took place, there were discussions with the union to establish parity.

“Although the union signed off on it, and we (MBMBC) signed off, the ministry said it was not updated. So, because it was not documented in the ministry, when they were doing the reclassification, they fell out of line,” added Murray.

hopeton.bucknor@gleanerjm.com