Jamaica:
'Cash-rich firms must pay more'
By
Balford Henry
The Jamaica Observer
Kingston
Petroleumworld
Trinidad.com 05 21 06
TRADE
union bosses have been instructed by the umbrella
Jamaica Confederation of Trade Union (JCTU) not
to settle for single digit pay hike for workers
employed to 'profitable' private sector companies.
The
unions will therefore be keeping an eye on the balance
sheets when they enter into new wage contracts,
as they will be insisting on bargaining on the basis
of the companies' ability to pay.
"The
confederation has informed member unions that they
must ensure that the private sector companies grant
increases based on their ability to pay," said
JCTU president, Senator Dwight Nelson.
Nelson
issued the warning to private sector companies,
claiming that many of them, despite making huge
profits, had limited their employees to single digit
pay increases over the past two years based on the
levels agreed for the public sector under the Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU).
He
said the unions were determined that this should
not be allowed to continue, and that no private
sector company would be allowed to hide behind the
levels of increases agreed to in the MOU.
The
JCTU appeared to have been emboldened by an agreement
with the government to exclude profitable public
sector entities from the new Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU2), which is expected to be signed next month.
Nelson
confirmed yesterday that cash-rich state-run entities
such as the National Housing Trust (NHT), Petrojam
and the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), would be
allowed to negotiate outside the MOU based on their
ability to pay new increases.
He
said that this was a new development to protect
the workers in these agencies from being restricted,
while their employers continue to make huge profits.
At
the same time, Nelson also confirmed that the Jamaica
Teachers' Association (JTA) was studying a new proposal
from the government that would guarantee them two
per cent above the levels agreed for civil servants.
Ruel Reid, the JTA president, is in favour of the
proposal, but will need the approval of the association's
central executive before agreeing to sign.
The
"hardship" allowance, which the government
implemented as temporary relief for the workers
battered by higher-than-projected inflation in 2005,
will continue to the end of May.
The
new MOU agreement will cost the government approximately
$15 billion in increased pay and fringe benefits
in 2006/2007, and a further five per cent in 2007/2008.
The
JCTU contended that increases could be as high as
28 per cent for the least paid workers, but was
unable to say how much more, workers at the top
levels would get. The previous offer from the Government,
which the unions rejected, had a minimum increase
of two per cent. However, the additional funds would
ensure that the top levels get at least a five per
cent hike.
Incidentally,
one condition of the new MOU is that once it has
been signed no other set of government workers -
except the profitable agencies which will be exempted
- can be given improvements in excess of this arrangement.
The Jamaica Observer
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Copyright©
2000-2001 Jamaica Observer. All Rights Reserved.
