Jamaica: Gov’t and Trade Unions sign deal to lift wage freeze

Jamaica has signed a new wage deal with some trade unions that will see salaries boosted by 4 percent during the agreement’s first year.

The pact was signed Tuesday after weeks of negotiations with several syndicates belonging to a union umbrella group. It covers April 2015 to March 2017. The government says benefits will include tuition refunds, child grants and training.

Public sector workers have been laboring under a wage freeze in Jamaica, which is in the third year of a four-year US$930 million loan package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller says public workers “continue to make great sacrifices” in support of Jamaica’s economic program.

Earlier this year, the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research said Jamaica was running the world’s “most austere budget.”

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press