JCSA accuses Gov't of foul play in compensation review

• Published date: 30 April 2022
• Publication title: Gleaner, The (Kingston, Jamaica)

O'Neil Grant, president of the JCSA, said that from March 2021, the association has had an active claim before the ministry for the period 2021-2022. He said that despite several attempts to have the claim negotiated and settled, the ministry has engaged in "obfuscation and delaying tactics to frustrate all efforts to have the claim settled"

He said the union has in its possession a document from the ministry called 'Benefits' which highlights the very items of claim that the union has been trying to have negotiated and settled.

"The apparent context of the ministry's approach is to place the JCSA claim items under the compensation review and eliminate them without our negotiations being settled," the JCSA said in a news release.

In a Gleaner interview yesterday, Grant said that the ministry's latest action has resulted in an erosion of trust in the ministry.

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"You can't have a claim before the ministry wanting to negotiate the claim, not getting any traction on it, then you see a document coming out to say that these are to be discontinued and you had an opportunity to speak about them and that wasn't raised and so it goes now to an issue of trust," Grant insisted.

NEED TO REBUILD TRUST

He argued that the trust has been impacted and it has to be rebuilt, noting that the ministry will have to give some concessions in order to rebuild that trust.

"I think the best way for it to be done is for the ministry to withdraw [the document] and just apologise for how it handled the matter. They did make a mistake and they have to accept that they made a mistake."

He said while a clarification circular has been sent out to permanent secretaries, the ministry has not yet responded formally to the union's concerns.

In a media release on Wednesday, an apparently peeved Grant demanded that the ministry withdraw the document immediately and tender a "public apology to the JCSA and its membership" and move with urgency to settle the union's negotiations with effect from April 1, 2021.

Grant warned that the "irresponsible and disrespectful behaviour" by the ministry towards the JCSA will not be tolerated and has the potential to derail the peaceful industrial relations climate in the public sector.

According to Grant, the document labelled 'Benefits' seems targeted at the JCSA "as we do not see any of the benefits negotiated by the police, teachers, doctors, fire officers and nurses...