Unions/Bargaining Units Committed To Compensation Review Process

The leadership of unions/bargaining units signing agreements on behalf of civil servants for the Government’s four per cent salary increase offer for April 2021 to March 2022, is anticipating seamless implementation of the Public Sector Compensation Review, and have committed to working to facilitate this.

The review, slated to begin in April 2022, is intended to overhaul the structure of salaries and other emoluments in the public service to make them more equitable.

It was scheduled to get under way in April 2021 but was deferred by 12 months, largely due to resource constraints associated with the economic fallout caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Government subsequently indicated that, based on emerging developments it would be able to offer a four per cent increase over the 12-month period.

Thirty-one unions/bargaining units representing 80,000 public sector workers or approximately 80 per cent of the workforce, have so far, signed agreements.

They include the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), whose 11 affiliates were the first groups accepting the offer. They signed in October.

The latest groups accepting it are: the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ); Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA); Academic Staff Association of the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (ASACASE); Jamaica Midwives Association (JMA); Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE); and Jamaica Association of Education Officers (JAEO), which represent a combined 10,000 workers.

Portfolio Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, State Minister, Hon. Marsha Smith, along with representatives of the latter bodies, signed the agreement during a brief ceremony at the Ministry in Kingston, on December 22, as was the case with the JCTU.

Dr. Clarke indicated that with 80,000 public sector employees now covered by the agreement, and with the expectation that the number of unions/bargaining units signing will increase, “hopefully, even further shortly”, the Ministry is looking to engage representatives of the groups in discussions in early 2022, regarding the pathway towards the review’s implementation.

“Our attention will turn to putting in place the steps that can allow for the beginning of the implementation of the compensation review. So, very early in the new year, you can expect us to reach out [to you] and for us to apply a very broad set of principles to the situation that we face in Jamaica,” the Minister stated.

Speaking during the signing, NAJ President Patsy Henry, said while more substantive provisions were anticipated from the new salary offer, “we look forward to what the compensation review will bring.”

“So, we are hoping to be called to the table early and we are looking forward to working with the Ministry,” she stated.

Secretary of ASACASE, Lilieth Clarke Sinclair noted that the unit “certainly had some areas that we would have expected greater benefits”, adding that “we understand the challenges, and so we look beyond our expectations”.

“We look forward to the public [sector compensation review]… and the next slate of negotiations,” she added.

JMDA President Dr. Mindi Fitz-Henley, who said the entity “was grateful for what has been provided [under the new agreement]”, expressed the hope that “we are looking forward to having a good working relationship [with the Ministry], so that we can work together, here onwards, [in implementing the review, among other engagements]”.

JMA President Bobby-Joe Campbell said the organisation understood the decisions which the Government, through the Finance Ministry, had to make in relation to public sector emoluments.

As such, she said the JMA was keen on forging a good working relationship with the Finance Ministry and other government entities in relation to the review’s implementation.

Ms. Campbell said stakeholder engagement in the process of the review “would be very great … so that the whole [process and its outcomes]… can be meaningful”.

Speaking during an earlier signing, JCTU President Helene Davis Whyte, said with the signing of the new salary agreement, “the work has really just begun for us”.

“Because we are moving immediately into finalising the discussions around the compensation review and implementation, as was promised, in April of next year.”

Mrs. Davis Whyte said it was anticipated that the work involved in that process, “and trying to come out of it with a system that will serve the entire public sector very well, [is] going to be very difficult work”.

“But we feel we are up to the task; and so we look forward to those discussions commencing,” she added.