Tweet
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter Despite industrial action by some public-sector groups and the threat of protest action by others, government workers will have to wait a while longer for the seven per cent increase they are owed.
As some National Water Commission (NWC) employees walked off the job yesterday to demand the payment of the increase, Finance Minister Audley Shaw faced the media and declared that the wage freeze was still in place.
However, Shaw announced that the Bruce Golding administration has offered a concession on outstanding allowances and has now decided that the almost $3 billion owed to public-sector workers will be paid by June of next year.
At the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing, Shaw repeated the Government's claim that it just does not have the money to pay the outstanding salary increase this fiscal year.
.
"I have said it before and I'm going to say it again: we cannot make blood out of stone," Shaw declared.
"That is not a state-ment of arrogance ... It is a factual statement and honesty is always the best policy," added Shaw.
He noted that several countries around the world have cut the salaries paid to public-sector workers or cut jobs in response to the global economic crisis.
However, Jamaica has done neither and the administration says it remains committed to paying the outstanding amounts.
No solution in industrial action
While pointing to the massive spending cuts and the possible loss of 500,000 civil service jobs announced by British Chancellor George Osborne yesterday, Shaw argued that some persons in Jamaica seem not to understand the widespread impact of the global economic meltdown.
"Let us get real, let us get serious. I want us to understand that the situation we are in is not something that is going to be solved by industrial action," said Shaw.
Responding to the NWC workers who walked off the job yesterday, Shaw said there was no truth to the claims that the company is cash rich and can afford to pay the increase even if other government entities cannot.
The NWC workers were ordered back to work by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal last night.
According to the finance minister, the NWC owes more than $2 billion in taxes and $600 million to the Jamaica Public Service Company.
Shaw said: "But even if you have a cash-rich agency that is able to pay the seven per cent, the Government's overall policy is that the seven per cent cannot be paid at this time and that is a firm position."
He said the outstanding salary to all public-sector groups will be put on the table for discussion by the soon-to-be officially launched Public Sector Monitoring Committee.
However, even before that body gets down to work, the Cabinet has approved the payment of $2.9 billion in outstanding allowances to public-sector workers.
"While we had originally planned to pay those allowances over the three-year medium-term period ... we made the decision that we are going to bring forward the payment.
"We are not going to pay only the nurses, but we are also going to pay the midwives, soldiers and other groups," said Shaw.
Half of the groups will be paid before December with nurses and midwives set to collect their outstanding payments this month.
The other half of the public-sector groups will get their allowances by the end of the first quarter of the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead3.html
As some National Water Commission (NWC) employees walked off the job yesterday to demand the payment of the increase, Finance Minister Audley Shaw faced the media and declared that the wage freeze was still in place.
However, Shaw announced that the Bruce Golding administration has offered a concession on outstanding allowances and has now decided that the almost $3 billion owed to public-sector workers will be paid by June of next year.
At the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing, Shaw repeated the Government's claim that it just does not have the money to pay the outstanding salary increase this fiscal year.
.
"I have said it before and I'm going to say it again: we cannot make blood out of stone," Shaw declared.
"That is not a state-ment of arrogance ... It is a factual statement and honesty is always the best policy," added Shaw.
He noted that several countries around the world have cut the salaries paid to public-sector workers or cut jobs in response to the global economic crisis.
However, Jamaica has done neither and the administration says it remains committed to paying the outstanding amounts.
No solution in industrial action
While pointing to the massive spending cuts and the possible loss of 500,000 civil service jobs announced by British Chancellor George Osborne yesterday, Shaw argued that some persons in Jamaica seem not to understand the widespread impact of the global economic meltdown.
"Let us get real, let us get serious. I want us to understand that the situation we are in is not something that is going to be solved by industrial action," said Shaw.
Responding to the NWC workers who walked off the job yesterday, Shaw said there was no truth to the claims that the company is cash rich and can afford to pay the increase even if other government entities cannot.
The NWC workers were ordered back to work by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal last night.
According to the finance minister, the NWC owes more than $2 billion in taxes and $600 million to the Jamaica Public Service Company.
Shaw said: "But even if you have a cash-rich agency that is able to pay the seven per cent, the Government's overall policy is that the seven per cent cannot be paid at this time and that is a firm position."
He said the outstanding salary to all public-sector groups will be put on the table for discussion by the soon-to-be officially launched Public Sector Monitoring Committee.
However, even before that body gets down to work, the Cabinet has approved the payment of $2.9 billion in outstanding allowances to public-sector workers.
"While we had originally planned to pay those allowances over the three-year medium-term period ... we made the decision that we are going to bring forward the payment.
"We are not going to pay only the nurses, but we are also going to pay the midwives, soldiers and other groups," said Shaw.
Half of the groups will be paid before December with nurses and midwives set to collect their outstanding payments this month.
The other half of the public-sector groups will get their allowances by the end of the first quarter of the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead3.html
Comment