Staff cuts loom

Public sector could be hit hard

UNIONS REPRESENTING public sector employees want to meet government officials to clarify reports of imminent staff cuts.

The Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), in particular, says it wants a meeting with the Ministry of Water and Housing where more than 200 jobs are said to be on the line.

First vice-president of the JCSA, Wayne Jones, said on Monday the leadership of the organisation had heard from unofficial sources about plans to reduce the staff of the newly-formed Ministry.

He said a meeting would be sought with officials from the Ministry to discuss the issue ahead of tomorrow's JCSA's General Conference.

"We anticipate it is going to be a matter on the conference floor," Mr. Jones said.

The question of redundancies in the public sector is also expected to be on the agenda of a meeting the Joint Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) is seeking with the Prime Minister to discuss a number of issues affecting workers in the public, as well as the private sector. This meeting is likely to take place in the next two weeks.

At an emergency meeting of the association in February, the civil servants passed a resolution demanding a halt to the government's public sector reform programme, which they said would lead to hundreds of redundancies in the sector.

According to The Gleaner sources, workers at the Ministry of Water and Housing have been told to expect staff cuts. The source said the government planned to reduce the staff there to about 150.

The Ministry of Housing alone employs more than 300 workers. The Ministry's Permanent Secretary, Thorant Hardware, could not be reached for comment. Last month the JCSA charged any plans by the government to cut significant numbers of workers from the public sector would breach a condition of their last agreement, two years ago. The condition was that no civil servant's position would be made redundant for budgetary reasons.

But, Mr. Jones said the JCSA would not go into discussions with the Ministry with a one-sided view. "If we are convinced that there needs to be a cut somewhere, we are not going to bring down the roof," he said.

What was important, he said, was the terms under which workers would be terminated and whether there were mechanisms, such as counselling and advice to cushion the effect of the job loss.

Mr. Jones, also said the JCSA hoped to meet Prime Minister P.J. Patterson within the next two weeks to discuss aspects of the public sector modernisation programme.

Civil servants have also complained about the reduction of their numbers as a consequence of the modernisation programme. Many have expressed reservations about the transformation of some key public sector entities into executive agencies.

They argue executive agencies, which are run along the lines of private firms, only give the government greater power to hire and fire. The Public Works Department and JAMPRO are next in line to become executive agencies.

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