By John Myers, Jnr., Staff ReporterTHE PAYMENT of increased wages and retroactive salaries for staff at the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is set to cost the cash-strapped state-owned bus company roughly $100 million.
This was revealed yesterday by Keith Goodison, vice-president of human resources and public relations at the JUTC. He said the wage increases and retroactive payments came about as a result of a recent reclassification exercise.
Mr. Goodison disclosed that the JUTC started paying the new rates last Thursday and has proposed to start making retroactive payments for the period April 1 to July 9, by August 27. The new rates would apply mostly to conductors and drivers, who make up about 80 per cent of the company's workforce.
Nearly 2,000 workers who were affected by the reclassification exercise are to benefit from the pay hike. Speaking to the reasons behind the reclassification exercise, Mr Goodison said: "We wanted to look at the whole structure of how you recruit, train and promote people within the categories and it was felt that we had to move away from a system where you can't use performance evaluation to determine people's suitability."
ALTERNATIVE FUNDING
Under the previous system, JUTC employees were evaluated based on length of service.
But the huge payout bill has come at a time when the bus company, which operates on a $3.4 billion budget, is losing millions of dollars. This has forced the Ministry of Finance to look to alternative sources of funding to keep the JUTC afloat as its operational budget continues to exceed earnings.
Another meeting is scheduled for Friday with the unions to further fine-tune aspects of the new system of employment to ensure that all parties are fully aware with the terms stipulated.
