Jamaica Government Signs Wage Agreement With Public Sector Workers

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government has signed a two year agreement with the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) that covers salaries and other benefits for the period April 2015 to March 2017 for public workers.

However, the union of Schools, Agriculture and Allied Workers, the Union of Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel, and the United Union of Jamaica, three of the 11 JCTU members refused to sign the accord.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said, that in January this year government had received a joint claim from the JCTU and it was the position of the unions and supported by her administration, that public sector workers could not be asked to continue under the wage freeze.

“This is despite the fact that our country has not yet achieved the target of a wage to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio of nine per cent which we have set under Jamaica’s Economic Reform Programme.”

In 2013, Jamaica entered into a four year US$948.1 million Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement with the IMF, and a delegation from the Washington-based financial institution is expected here on Wednesday, to determine whether the island met all quantitative targets and structural benchmarks for the review period.

Prime Minister Simpson Miller said, some critical components of the agreement include an increase in salary of four per cent in the first year, and three per cent in the second year.

She said that her administration was grateful to all public sector workers for “their patience, their sacrifices and their loyalty to Jamaica” during the period of negotiations.

“My administration takes seriously our responsibility for the prudent management of the affairs of our country, while ensuring that the best interest of our employees are always protected and secured.

“I know very well the tremendous sacrifices being made by the people of Jamaica, as we strengthen the economy and work to secure economic growth with equity, social inclusion and job creation”, she said.

Minister with responsibility for the Public Service, Horace Dalley said that it took 14 drafts of the Heads of Agreement, before the majority of the JCTU unions were finally convinced to sign the accord.

He said that reaching an agreement was “not easy” noting “sometimes you are leaving a meeting on the cusp of an agreement, and when you go back you have to change (some things)”.

JCTU vice-president Helene Davis-Whyte said that among the highlights of the new agreement was that the plight of the least-paid workers was taken into consideration, resulting in the J$4,000 (One Jamaica dollar =US$0.004 cents) per month pay increase in the first year of the new two-year agreement.

She said as a result, the increase is higher than the four per cent increase the government had been offering.

She said that the trade unions made the proposal, in order to favour the least-paid workers, who are most vulnerable to the current economic realities.

Finance and Planning Minister Dr Peter Phillips described the achievement as historic, in terms of consolidating the partnership between stakeholders in the sector on the economy.

“Among other things, it signifies the continued commitment of the public sector unions to the economic reform programme,” Phillips said, adding that the agreement reflected the kind of maturity, which should characterise similar negotiations.

Prime Minister Simpson Miller said that there were 12 items from the previous 2012-15 agreement with the unions still being pursued.

But, she said improvements in a number of fringe benefits, including meal, supper and tailoring allowances, and J$45 million in grants will be made available to tertiary students who are children of parents employed in the public sector.