FLA industrial action puts firearm holders in a pickle

Licensed firearm holders impacted by industrial action by staff at the Firearms Licensing Authority (FLA) on Tuesday are concerned they could be prosecuted for permit registration lapses as the entity sorts through its issues.

On Tuesday, some workers at the FLA, which regulates the licensing of firearms in Jamaica in keeping with worldwide standards, staged a sickout. Among the key issues is a frustration that contract workers are yet to be addressed under the Government's public sector compensation restructuring exercise.

Clarence*, who told The Gleaner that he has been overseas for two years and is already facing late fees of at least $15,000, is hoping the issues will be resolved swiftly to restore normality to the agency's operations.

“I was in the [United] States dealing with COVID and family issues, and I said to myself, 'I want to get my thing sorted before I leave again'. FLA needs to fix this,” he lamented.

Durrant* was also disappointed when he went to update his permit.

“I want to know when things will be back to normal. I don't want any trouble with the police. I could have gone last week, but decided to wait until after the holidays. I hope they don't charge me the late fee because I turned up to get it up to date,” he said.

Jerry*, another licensed firearm holder, also said some people could find themselves facing a predicament.

SERIOUS ISSUE

“What is happening is very serious. ... If my licence is outdated and I have the gun on my person [and] I shoot and kill someone, am I not liable for prosecution because I don't have the right to, on the basis the permit is outdated, rendering the action unlawful? Why didn't I renew? Because there was a sickout,” he said, adding that the entity is not doing enough to have the backlog of persons carrying outdated permits rectified.

Techa Clarke-Griffiths, president of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), told The Gleaner that the industrial action at FLA goes beyond the recent compensation restructuring.

“In 2015, there was a revision in the FLA Act, which indicated that the staff should be paid at a [certain] level. That was before the implementation of the compensation review. That was not done. The FLA would have re-engaged the Ministry of Finance in 2019 because there was heavy staff turnover,” Clarke-Griffiths said.

She said that the roles of the FLA and its staff were changed and remunerations were not being revised.

“They were doing more work and they were not getting paid for it. To complicate the issue, every single member of staff at the FLA is on contract. So, with the new compensation review, the contract workers were not considered for any implementations on this compensation review,” Clarke-Griffiths said.

The slow pace of the elimination of contract workers in some entities, including the FLA, is what is causing issues in the civil service, according to Clarke-Griffiths.

She told The Gleaner that several key persons have resigned from the FLA out of frustration.

“The last person who would have resigned ... is the longest-serving JCSA member of the FLA. That person resigned last week and take up a post of similar nature in central government with more pay ... . It's a myriad of issues,” Clarke-Griffiths said.

The contract workers are asking for the implementation of the legislation as that would supersede the compensation review.

“If they implement the legislation, even if the compensation review is not yet implemented, the staff would still benefit from something,” she said.

Clarke-Griffiths added that the workers will remain off the job until some form of consultation and settlement is made.

Efforts by The Gleaner to get a response from FLA CEO Shane Dalling were unsuccessful.

*Names changed.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com