KINGSTON: Salary negotiations between the Government and Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) member unions have hit a troublesome patch as workers rationalise Government’s $4 000 per month pay offer to the public service.
Some unions’ leaders have been having trouble selling the package in cases where the membership includes lower-paid workers, whose percentage increase has been boosted by the dollar figure, and those at higher levels whose percentage increase has diminished. But, minister with responsibility for the public sector, Horace Dalley, insists that both sides are only ensuring that they are comfortable with every item included in the draft Heads of Agreement he sent to them.
“We have clarified all the concerns and we have addressed all the issues that are outstanding. I have to be satisfied that their concerns are addressed, and our concerns are addressed, and I expect to get their response tomorrow (today),” he told.
Dalley and the JCTU umbrella unions are expected to meet tomorrow to finalise the draft. Meanwhile, today’s scheduled signing of the Heads of Agreement at Jamaica House is off, due to the failure of the parties to finalise the contract. What might have been originally perceived by Dalley as a visionary move to resolve the impasse, seems to be fast becoming a nightmarish conclusion to the four-month-old negotiations.
“There is a need to ease the pressure on the workers, and the Government has to find a way to keep up its end of the bargain,” spokesman for the JCTU team, Keith Comrie, told. Asked whether that means the talks have broken down, Comrie said: “If they can have some mercy on us it will succeed.
The five unions include Comrie’s Union of Schools, Agriculture and Allied Workers (USAAW), which represents ancillary workers at public schools, including the grounds staff, as well as administrative staff, including bursars. The salary gaps in these instances are creating a headache for the unions in a similar position because some members will get more than the four per cent offer which preceded the $4 000 across-the-board offer, while others stand to get much less.
Comrie explained that, like the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), he had hoped for an improvement in allowances for the higher-paid staff to reduce the gap, but with little success so far. Now he says that the unions which are in the same position are suggesting Government pays the $4 000 up to a certain pay scale level, and pay the percentage increase beyond that level. But, as Comrie conceded, that would cost the Government more than the price tag on the current offer. Senior vice-president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Wesley Nelson, says his concern is that workers employed in profitable State-run entities and agencies will be restricted to the $4 000 per month, while the entities enjoy huge profits.
“We are not interested in a contract without the condition that profitable Government bodies must offer increases on the basis of their ability to pay,” he said. The Observer understands that USAAW, BITU, JCSA, the Union of Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel, and the United Union of Jamaica are demanding additional improvements to the offer before any agreement.
The National Workers Union, Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers, the Jamaica Union of Public Officers and Public Employees, the Jamaica Workers Union, and the University and Allied Workers Union have not made any public response to the Government’s offer. The Jamaica Teachers’ Association and the Nurses’ Association of Jamaica are members of the JCTU but have opted to negotiate outside the umbrella group. The teachers have already dismissed the $4 000 across-the-board offer. The trade unions are hoping for a meeting with Dalley before the week closes in order to make a formal response to the draft Heads of Agreement.