10-day ultimatum
Civil service union threatens public-sector disruption if compensation concerns not urgently addressed
Published:Monday | March 4, 2024 | 12:10 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
The 30,000-strong Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) has given its leadership a mandate to resolve outstanding issues under the compensation review exercise with the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service speedily or its members will not be able to guarantee normality at the workplace.
“The entire JCSA members are restive,” said Techa Clarke-Griffiths, president of the union.
On March 1, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) issued a 10-day ultimatum to Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke to meet with the group to settle outstanding matters under the compensation-review exercise, failing which a government shutdown could be imminent.
In its letter, of which The Gleaner saw a copy, the JCTU told Clarke that it was bringing to his attention unrest among workers in ministries, departments, and agencies of Government, as well as in the local government and public bodies, arising from undue delay to settle several items of claim with the finance ministry.
The JCTU said the items were described in a letter dated November 2, 2023. In that letter, the JCTU said it noted that there was agreement on all items except for the payment of increment for the period 2022 to 2025 and the JCTU’s insistence that circular number 28 regarding travelling should be withdrawn.
AMICABLE RESOLUTION
“Our members have, therefore, mandated us to indicate that all efforts must be made to bring about an amicable resolution within the next 10 days, failing which normalcy cannot be guaranteed in the public sector,” the letter stated.
Responding to the ultimatum last evening, Clarke argued that having implemented the salary portion of the restructuring, the Government and the JCTU have been in discussions on some matters related to conditions of employment and benefits.
He said in May 2023, his ministry provided a set of proposals to the JCTU on these matters and they wrote back in response, six months later, in November 2023.
“We promptly met with them in December 2023 and came to an agreement on eight of nine items in their written response. Only one item remained. During our meeting, we provided an updated proposal, which they were to consider and get back,” he said.
Further, Clarke noted that given the progress in discussions, a disruption, or even a threat of disruption, would be an unnecessary escalation that the public must see in the context of a competition for resources.
“But as minister of finance, sworn to represent all Jamaicans, we cannot afford to allocate resources based on who shouts loudest,” he said.
When contacted yesterday, St Patrice Ennis, president of the JCTU, said he was aware of a letter under his signature that he had not brought to the attention of the press. “Ideally, matters of a disputatious nature are better handled internally, in this case, giving the minister an opportunity to respond,” he said.
He said Clarke last evening contacted him and expressed a willingness to “always meet with the JCTU, and we now await his formal response”.
At the same time, Clarke-Griffiths told The Gleaner yesterday that her workers were upset over the lack of reinstatement of passenger mileage, retroactive payment for mileage, and payment of outstanding increments to workers.
She argued that increment was a very critical part of the public sector, adding that every public-sector worker was entitled to an increment once they performed their duties satisfactorily.
Clarke-Griffiths said the finance ministry had indicated that it did not allocate resources in the budget to pay increment.
“It was not discussed with the union. There was no agreement to withhold increment from public-sector workers,” she said.
Contending that “contract workers have been suffering”, Clarke-Griffiths said “the only set of contract workers that have received any form of increase during this compensation restructuring are those that are employed to established positions”.
The JCSA boss said the unions have been holding meetings with the finance ministry since last year, yet several issues remained unsettled.
“We vex, we upset,” she declared.
Commenting on the 10-day ultimatum given by the unions, Clarke-Griffiths said her union would not only be anticipating a meeting with the minister, but that the outstanding issues are addressed with alacrity.
Clarke-Griffiths argued that public-sector workers were not unreasonable, noting that there were anomalies to be addressed.
She said the MOU the unions signed with the Government under the compensation review exercise indicated that discussions could continue.
“This is a new day in a new dispensation from a new president. I am here to represent my members. I have no political affiliation and I am just doing what I have to do.”
She stressed that her members gave her a mandate and she was determined to carry it out.
“They fix themselves, and everybody was paid retroactive (sums) from April 1. Fix us, you fix yourself. We are not asking for anything else but to be fixed, too,” she said.
However, Clarke acknowledged that the very nature of a restructuring exercise is such that it is inherently predisposed to discontent as the impact of the exercise on each individual is different, and individuals and groups compare and sometimes compete with each other.
In a response to Gleaner queries on the issue, Clarke reasoned that there were approximately three million people in Jamaica “crying for improvements in roads, water, garbage, public transportation, sewerage, and other public services which can only be addressed by an increase in allocation to capital expenditure that funds public investments. Yet, twice in this fiscal year, we had to reduce capital expenditure to accommodate wage demands. I can’t be any more transparent on this, and I hope all Jamaicans hear me that if this continues, the country will go backwards very quickly”.
Clarke said while he understood how some public employees might feel, he was appealing for patience and understanding.
“We are making a tremendous effort that is evident in the sheer size of the increase in allocation to public-sector compensation,” he added.
The finance minister said the Government increased public-sector compensation by an aggregate amount of $200 billion between 2021-22 and 2024-25.
He said this was almost a doubling of public-sector compensation from $222 billion (or 9.6% of GDP) to $414 billion (or 12.6% of GDP) across three fiscal years.
“While we believe this to be justified and deserved, to accomplish it has meant that other items of expenditure that benefit other segments of our Jamaican society have had to be postponed. Illustrating the point, over the same three fiscal years, expenditure on programmes that impact approximately three million Jamaicans has gone up by $58 billion, a small fraction of the amount we devoted to increasing public-sector compensation.”