By Robert Hart, Staff ReporterTHE OPPOSITION has once again raised questions over the historic Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) signed Monday between the Government and trade unions to restrain wages over the next two years.
Opposition Senator Dwight Nelson played a central role in negotiating the MOU, but his colleague, Bruce Golding, yesterday stated concerns about the wording of the document, noting that it was unbalanced in favour of Government.
During yesterday's sitting of the Senate, Minister of Justice A.J. Nicholson sparked a near two-hour 'discussion' when he rose on the motion for adjournment to laud the agreement establishing a two-year period of wage restraint in the face of a deepening economic crisis.
"History will come to record and Jamaicans yet unborn will come to appreciate what took place between the leadership of workers in Jamaica and the leadership of other quarters, particularly the Government in the year 2004," Senator Nicholson, who is also Attorney-General, told the House.
Accompanying the Attorney-General was Government Senator Deika Morrison who noted that there were a number of additional initiatives within the MoU which have not received the same publicity afforded the much-talked about period of restraint.
Among those initiatives, she said, was the establishment of cost-saving committees in every agency of Government as well as expenditure restraint on the part of the state and the training and retraining of workers.
"I am encouraging everybody to read it, it is on the Ministry of Finance's Web site. It's readily available and very easy to understand," said Senator Morrison, a State Minister in the Ministry of Finance and Planning.
But Senator Golding was hard-pressed to join the congratulatory parade, continuing his open criticism of the substance of the agreement.
Joining in the discussion, he reiterated his view that the agreement forged after three months of talks was unbalanced.
"What is not as clear here, no matter how many times you read the MoU, is what is the contribution of the Government," he said, suggesting that the document neglected to put forward specific initiatives for the Government to follow in seeking the economic objectives laid out in the agreement.
In addition, Senator Golding noted that the Government's recent ground-breaking for a new bus terminal in Half-Way Tree was a questionable move in light of the initiatives to be implemented in April.
"I am not sure that if I were faced with this situation where I am saying to the workers that you have to hold strain... I would not have to say to the Minister of Transport that look... you going to have to wait two more years before you take on that transportation centre."
The doubt expressed by the Opposition and other voices in the public arena, fuelled the ire of Opposition Senator Dwight Nelson, who was the leading voice of the trade unions in the talks.
Senator Nelson, the vice-president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions told the Senate: "I say to my colleagues, many of you are disappointed because your perception of the trade union is of an organisation which foment riotous disorder and only do things to mash up the country."
