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Jamaica Police begin Industrial Action
Jamaica’s National Security Minister Peter Bunting has warned that the industrial action taken by police officers places the public at risk and appealed to them to end their action.
“It exposes the public to unnecessary risk and it may damage the professional image of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) that has seen significant improvement in recent years.
The industrial action taken by members of Jamaica’s police is in response to the Simpson-Miller administration’s refusal to increase the pay offer of 5 percent over 24 months already rejected by public sector workers.
Industrial action by members of the rank and file of the Jamaica Constabulary Force has been building since late last week, following a statement by Jamaica Police Federation (JPC) chairman, Sergeant Raymond Wilson, that the Simpson-Miller administration had until yesterday to improve on the offer.
The Federation said Friday that it was giving the Simpson-Miller administration “4 days” to make an increased offer. It did not say how it would respond if the administration failed to respond. However, following last week’s annual conference of the JPC in Montego Bay, the federation has instructed its members to limit their hours to the basic 50 hours per week.
The federation represents approximately 10,000 police men and women, including some 2,000 police who were formerly members of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) now merged with the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Wilson confirmed in interviews with the media yesterday that he had met with Commissioner of Police, Carl Williams, to discuss the threat of industrial action, but would not disclose the outcome of that meeting. He also confirmed that a number of his members seemed to have been informed of their promotion in rank yesterday.
He also added that he spoke with minister without portfolio Horace Dalley on phone on the continuation of the wage and fringe benefits negotiations. However, Wilson acknowledged that there has been no improvement in the 5 percent pay offer from the administration.
Wilson says that one of the federation’s main demands is for at least a 20 percent increase paid to entry-level police.
He said that until the administration indicates a willingness to improve its offer, the federation has no alternative but to observe its mandate for action.
In the meantime, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), which represents public schools teachers, is expected to meet with Dalley tomorrow, and the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), which represents some 40,000 skilled and unskilled public sector workers, is hoping for a meeting on Thursday.
Teachers from some downtown Kingston schools demonstrated for a few hours on Duke Street yesterday, dressed in black, in support of the JTA’s stand.
The JCTU team was expecting that last Thursday’s end of the month meeting of the MOU monitoring committee, which has been in place since the last pay agreement with the government in 2013, would have discussed the five per cent increase.
Eleven major trade unions bargain under the umbrella of the JCTU and, like the other unions, have rejected the Ministry of Finance’s initial offer of 3 percent in the first year and an additional 2 percent in the second year of a new 2 year deal.
The offer seeks to break the ice formed by a 5-year freeze of public sector workers’ salaries, propelled by agreements between successive governments and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the unions says that the offer is too low. -(CMC)