i. Compensation afforded to equivalent posts in statutory bodies/public enterprises.

ii. Compensation afforded lower level civil service posts, and

iii. Compensation required by qualified people willing to occupy MPT posts in the civil service.

• As a result the Bank included in the agreement as a condition for the loan to Jamaica that "over a 3-5 year period compensation for MPT positions in the civil service be raised to 85 per cent of that paid by statutory bodies and public enterprises".

(b) The 1992/94 Agreement with the Jamaica civil service Association

• The matter of low pay rates for civil service employees compared with other public sector entities and the private sector became a major issue in wage and fringe benefits negotiations, and consequently, during the 1992/94 wage and fringe benefits negotiations with the Jamaica Civil Service Association it was agreed that:

"The civil service is to be redeveloped/restructured over the period 1992-1995 to bring the emoluments and conditions of service of civil servants to within 20 per cent of that obtaining in Statutory Bodies and the Private Sector. This re-development/restructuring will be implemented with effect from September 1, 1993."

• In pursuance of the agreement the Government and the Jamaica Civil Service Association, agreed in 1998 to retain the firm Coopers and Lybrand, to:

"Conduct a study of the emoluments and conditions of service of civil servants vis-a-vis statutory bodies, public sector companies and the private sector with a view to:

(i) Determining market pay rates for comparable positions;

(ii) Recommending a time table for mainly civil service pay rates to within 20 per cent of market in the context of a restructured civil service."

• The Consultants in their report handed down in Decem-ber 1999 found, among other things, that the jobs at the lower levels of the hierarchy were close to market rates; the jobs in the middle and top levels are for the most part below market rates ranging from 305 to 70 per cent below market. The 70 per cent was related more to the top and this is the category to which the salary of the political directorate is pegged.

ADJUSTMENTS 2000/2005

• Following on the Coopers and Lybrand Report an agreement was reached with the Jamaica Civil Association (JCSA) for the implementation of pay adjustments over the period 2000 to 2005 as follows:

(a) Salary increase of four per cent with effect from 1st April 2000 and a further increase of four per cent with effect from 1st April 2001;

(b) the market pay adjustments to be implemented as follows:

October 1, 2002 ­ first tranche of 20 per cent of the adjustment

April 1, 2003 ­ second tranche of 20 per cent of the adjustment

April 1, 2004 ­ third tranche of 30 per cent of the adjustment

April 1, 2005 ­ final tranche of the remaining 30 per cent of the Adjustment.

ADJUSTMENT RESULTING FROM THE NEW CLASSIFICATION STANDARD AND PAY PLAN FOR THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGY CATEGORIES

• Throughout the 1990s the Government Service experienced very high levels of attrition from persons accepting scientific and technological positions. Depart-ments such as the Government Chemist, Survey Department, Forensic Laboratory, Mines and Geology were experiencing grave difficulties in recruiting persons for these positions. The vacancy levels in these departments ranged from 50 ­ 60 per cent. Consequently the Govern-ment had to act in order to address this issue.
• A new classification standard and pay plan was implemented with effect from the 1st April 2001 for jobs involving scientific and technical personnel. These jobs include engineers, draughtsmen, cartographers, surveyors, agricultural scientists, geologist, archaeologist, and architects to name a few. The new system was designed to allow scientists/technologists who enter the public service to have a clearly defined path in their field, so that there was no need to surrender their specialist's interest to administration/ management in order advance in the service, to leave for the private sector.
• Following the implementation of the new system it was found that certain pay anomalies were created within the executive management group. Where-by persons occupying supervisory posts were receiving salaries below the persons they supervise in the scientist and technologist group. In order to address the anomalies, adjustments in pay were approved for the executive management and other related groups with effect from the 1st April 2001.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE/ IMPLICATION FOR THE PARLIAMENTARIANS

• The 2000/2002 agreement reached with the Jamaica Civil Service Association provided for payments to civil servants of the new rates with effect from April, 2002 and for payments of the retroactive amounts as follows:

(a) New rates paid in April, 2002;

(b) Retroactive amounts in August, 2002

• In case of the anomaly adjustment it was decided that based on the availability of funds the civil servants would be paid the retroactive amounts in August 2002.
• Based on the agreed relationship between the salaries of parliamentarian and the civil servants as outlined elsewhere in this Ministry Paper, the parliamentarians were automatically entitled to the anomaly adjustments, effective 1st April, 2001, as well as the market adjustment effective 1st October, 2002.
• The payment to the parliamentarians could, however, not be made at the same time as to the civil servants due to fiscal constraints, which forced the Ministry of Finance and Planning to schedule payments to all Public Sector Groups. The payment for the Parliamentarians was scheduled as follows:

(a) New Rates ­ November, 2002

(b) Retroactive ­ January, 2003

• The time of the payments immediately following the General Election generated public outcry as it appeared that parliamentarians were granted excessive increases within a short period of time. It is to be noted that there was no similar reaction with respect to the increases granted to civil servants.
• There is need to attract and retain persons of the highest calibre to manage the complex operations of Government if this nation is to compete in the global economy. To achieve this, it is necessary that parliamentarians be reasonably paid. There has to be acceptance of this basic principle if the country is to progress.