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Police want 100% salary hike - Di genius will sort dem out
Police want 100 per cent salary hike
CARL GILCHRIST, Observer staff reporter gilchristc@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, May 22, 2008
OCHO RIOS, St Ann - Rank-and-file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are seeking a 100 per cent salary hike for the 2008 to 2010 contract period.
This is 78 per cent more than what the Government has agreed to pay the more than 100,000 of its employees who are represented by unions affiliated to the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU).
Chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation, Corporal Raymond Wilson, said the federation, in its 57-point proposal presented to the Government, is seeking an 80 per cent increase in year one and 20 per cent in year two.
"What we've been saying to government is, if our salaries have been eroded X per cent, then it means that you need to fill that gap of X per cent, before considering what is it that needs to go above that X per cent, which is now in line with levels of inflation, in order for us to be able to survive," Wilson told reporters at the end of a six-day conference of commissioners of police of the Caribbean, at the Sunset Jamaica Grande here in Ocho Rios.
The police federation holds its annual conference next week Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27 and 28 in Ocho Rios, and Wilson says he will be seeking a mandate from members on how to approach negotiations with the Government.
Said Wilson: "This is not a take it or leave it; this is a negotiation and a negotiation means you come to the table, you understand what is our problem, we understand what yours is, therefore we come to some amicable agreement."
In the meantime, Wilson said a meeting will be held on June 2 with Government negotiators to discuss the police's wage claim.
Government and the JCTU signed the third Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on April 18, an agreement which provides a 22 per cent increase over a two-year period, with 15 per cent payable this year and seven next year.
However, the police, teachers and nurses have not signed on.
A day after the signing, Senator Dwight Nelson, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance, was quoted as saying that teachers and nurses will not get salary increases above those agreed to in the MOU.
Nurses have been arguing for a 100 per cent salary increase since last year, claiming that Minister of Finance Audley Shaw had promised them that amount should the Jamaica Labour Party form the Government, while Shaw was the opposition spokesman on finance.
Meanwhile, Wilson, in making his case for the police, said the 100 per cent wage hike being sought is reasonable.
"If a policeman or woman lives and works in Kingston and is paid $1,000, he is expected to live off that $1,000. If he is transferred to Montego Bay he is expected to fund a second house, pay second bills and still live off that $1,000. He has to travel to work because no staff bus is provided, he has to buy his own breakfast, lunch and dinner while on the job because there is not a cafeteria as in corporate entities that provide a subsidiary for food.
"The policewoman, especially, has to create an endangerment for her child by taking her (the child) to the station while she works because there is no provision of daycare facilities," he said.
Wilson said the federation was taking the negotiations very seriously, as gains made over the past two negotiations have been "seriously eroded" with the levels of increases of utilities and basic necessities.
"It is critical we bring this negotiation to some closure very quickly," he added.
CARL GILCHRIST, Observer staff reporter gilchristc@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, May 22, 2008
OCHO RIOS, St Ann - Rank-and-file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are seeking a 100 per cent salary hike for the 2008 to 2010 contract period.
This is 78 per cent more than what the Government has agreed to pay the more than 100,000 of its employees who are represented by unions affiliated to the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU).
Chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation, Corporal Raymond Wilson, said the federation, in its 57-point proposal presented to the Government, is seeking an 80 per cent increase in year one and 20 per cent in year two.
"What we've been saying to government is, if our salaries have been eroded X per cent, then it means that you need to fill that gap of X per cent, before considering what is it that needs to go above that X per cent, which is now in line with levels of inflation, in order for us to be able to survive," Wilson told reporters at the end of a six-day conference of commissioners of police of the Caribbean, at the Sunset Jamaica Grande here in Ocho Rios.
The police federation holds its annual conference next week Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27 and 28 in Ocho Rios, and Wilson says he will be seeking a mandate from members on how to approach negotiations with the Government.
Said Wilson: "This is not a take it or leave it; this is a negotiation and a negotiation means you come to the table, you understand what is our problem, we understand what yours is, therefore we come to some amicable agreement."
In the meantime, Wilson said a meeting will be held on June 2 with Government negotiators to discuss the police's wage claim.
Government and the JCTU signed the third Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on April 18, an agreement which provides a 22 per cent increase over a two-year period, with 15 per cent payable this year and seven next year.
However, the police, teachers and nurses have not signed on.
A day after the signing, Senator Dwight Nelson, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance, was quoted as saying that teachers and nurses will not get salary increases above those agreed to in the MOU.
Nurses have been arguing for a 100 per cent salary increase since last year, claiming that Minister of Finance Audley Shaw had promised them that amount should the Jamaica Labour Party form the Government, while Shaw was the opposition spokesman on finance.
Meanwhile, Wilson, in making his case for the police, said the 100 per cent wage hike being sought is reasonable.
"If a policeman or woman lives and works in Kingston and is paid $1,000, he is expected to live off that $1,000. If he is transferred to Montego Bay he is expected to fund a second house, pay second bills and still live off that $1,000. He has to travel to work because no staff bus is provided, he has to buy his own breakfast, lunch and dinner while on the job because there is not a cafeteria as in corporate entities that provide a subsidiary for food.
"The policewoman, especially, has to create an endangerment for her child by taking her (the child) to the station while she works because there is no provision of daycare facilities," he said.
Wilson said the federation was taking the negotiations very seriously, as gains made over the past two negotiations have been "seriously eroded" with the levels of increases of utilities and basic necessities.
"It is critical we bring this negotiation to some closure very quickly," he added.
...not a part of PNP's 'investment to create jobs' plan...
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