President of JCSA Lauds MOU

President of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), Wayne Jones, has lauded the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Government and the Public Sector, noting that, “the agreement has resulted in increased social cohesion and improved governance within the public sector”.
Speaking on the topic, ‘MOU and U’ at a seminar on October 24, at the Management Institute for National Development (MIND), Mr. Jones said these improvements had led to tremendous benefits for both the government and other players in the sector.
Some of the benefits that have evolved from MOU I and MOU II, he said, include “more effective policy planning, increased training and capacity building, increased productivity and a more stable environment”. Mr. Jones, who is also Vice-President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), said that in terms of effective policy planning, since the establishment of the Evaluation and Monitoring Committee, the formulation of public policies has benefited remarkably from the involvement of a wider cross section of players in the industrial relations arena.
“This gathering is the first of its kind. Never before have we seen a situation where we have so many public officials sitting down with the trade union leadership to contemplate public policy,” he pointed out.
“This committee provides us with an opportunity to prevent disputes and also gives us a window through which we can resolve issues that come before us,” he added.
The President also noted that under the MOU, public sector workers are set to benefit from a number of training programmes, which would improve their performance capacity.
“Under MOU I, approximately 5,000 public sector workers were trained in entrepreneurial and other skills,” he noted, adding that some 1,230 persons have already been trained during the summer under the MOU II Vocational Training Programme, which would continue for the rest of the year.
Mr. Jones pointed out that public sector employees would soon benefit from a public sector staff interchange programme, which was aimed at facilitating the sharing of resources and fostering better relationships among government offices. Additionally, public sector employees who are pursuing studies at tertiary institutions could now access funding under the Tertiary Assistance Programme.
Linking increased training to more output, Mr. Jones said that employers could also benefit from improvements in productivity levels.
Continuing, he credited the MOU with creating the stable industrial relations environment, which the country is now experiencing.
“If you listen to the commentators on world economy, you would have heard them saying that the stable environment that the country is now enjoying is a result of the Memorandum of Understanding,” Mr. Jones said.
“Jamaica has since received good ratings from the international rating agencies, which have allowed the country to now go on the international financial market and really access financing, whether through loans or through grants,” he added.
The seminar was hosted by Level Four participants of the Certificate course in Administrative Management (CAM), as part of their final examination.