Erica Virtue, Staff Reporter
OPERATIONS at the Children's Services Division could come to a standstill this week if the Jamaica Union of Public Officers and Public Employees (JUPOPE) does not get a meeting with the Ministry of Health to discuss plans by Government to create an executive agency of the division by April 1.
Information reaching The Sunday Gleaner is that the proposal has thrown operations at the Children's Services Division into chaos because it will result in workers losing certain benefits. Also, the post of Ambassador for Children, now held by Marjorie Taylor, could be made redundant. Several persons have sought legal advice.
Under the provisions there is no place for Miss Taylor's current position. However, she could not be contacted for comment last week.
JUPOPE President, Fitzroy Bryan, said Friday that the union which represents the workers, wrote Winston Bowen, head of the Children's Services Division, October 15 last year, seeking a meeting to address the matter.
"To this day we have no response and it is only since we indicated that we are going to shut down the operations and go to the press that they have started scurrying around," he said in an interview.
According to him, "We are no longer interested in Mr. Bowen. We are now seeking a meeting with Minister John Junor and his Permanent Secretary at the earliest possible time. That is this week."
Mr. Bryan said the workers are owed outstanding allowances for the last three years, and if the agency is created they will lose their benefits.
"Its not going to happen. It is not," he warned.
He said the union has been left out of the arrangement and workers are in limbo.
According to him, "We have been told that the workers will start without job descriptions and will be on secondment for two years in which they can decide whether they want to work or not. They do not know what qualifications they will need for the job and the start up date in April 1."
The Sunday Gleaner understands that a meeting held in Runaway Bay last year, ended with employees calling the proposal "downright stupid."
The union delegate to the Children's Services Staff Association, Everton DaCosta, said the proposal has "not gone down well."
"When the meeting was told that individuals would lose some of their current fringe benefits people got angry," he said.
Mr. DaCosta said JUPOPE is the parent body of the staff association and which represents the workers involved.
Under the Public Sector Reform Programme (PSRG) which created the executive agency status, the thrust is to provide superior service in the public sector, at a cost.
Mr. DaCosta said the child care workers had no services to sell to the public, and the "investigations that we are asked to do by overseas agencies would contribute nothing to cost."
He explained that child care officers were agents of the state with special responsibility for children in the children's homes and others who were in need of care and protection.
Contacted yesterday Health Minister John Junor said the Ministry has decided to go the way of an executive agency.
"I will be calling Mr. Bryan to avert a shut down of the functions of the division. I don't know what has been communicated between the Children's Services head Winston Bowen and the workers, but yes, becoming an executive agency does not mean that people will necessarily lose their jobs," he said yesterday.
The Minister said he appreciated the workers concerns, and said there must be dialogue with all parties.
Asked if Ambassador Taylor will lose her job, he said, "the position of Ambassador Taylor is not an administrative one but a political one."
