PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson has been asked to intervene in the wage/fringe benefits negotiations between the executive of the Police Federation and the Ministry of Finance.
"We have written to the National Security Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips, asking him to seek the intervention of the Prime Minister on our behalf, because we were not getting anywhere with the Ministry of Finance," Chairman of the Police Federation, Sergeant Steve Brown, told The Gleaner yesterday.
Both parties met Monday and again on Tuesday, but the negotiations ended in a stalemate.
"Everytime we cross one hurdle, we come up on another one. We're not getting anywhere," the Federation Chairman said.
He said one of the problem areas was housing. The Federation has proposed that constables, from the day they leave the Police Academy, be entitled to maximum housing allowance.
The Federation is also bargaining for a 100 per cent increase in medical insurance and education for their children at the secondary and tertiary level.
Last month, rank and file policemen and women rejected the Government's offer of a six per cent increase over a two-year period, during a mass meeting held at the Elletson Road Police Complex.
On Monday last week, delegates met with the executive of Police Federation and after a lengthy meeting, accepted the offer. They however instructed the Federation to seek an increase elswhere in the package.
"Nothing has been signed yet. The problem we are having is to get the package implemented," Sergeant Brown explained.
Under the proposed package, the salary of a constable would be increased by $7,000; corporals would get $8,000; sergeants $9,000 and inspectors $11,000.
But at the mass meeting disgruntled constables and sub-officers angrily demanded details on what the payouts would be in the first and second years of the agreement and what it meant for their pensions.
