DONALDSON
WESTERN BUREAU:
MAYOR OF Montego Bay, Councillor Noel Donaldson, wants Government to make an exception to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and offer a generous wage increase to the police.
"The Government, having declared war on criminals, must now act with a greater sense of urgency to ensure that its 'army', the brave men and women of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), is better paid, equipped and accommodated in order to have a fighting chance of winning that war," Mayor Donaldson told The Gleaner yesterday.
"No army can reasonably be expected to fight and win a war when it is hungry, demoralised and in a permanent state of unpreparedness," he added.
JCF rank-and-file members have asked for a 47 per cent increase in salary but the Ministry of Finance is adamant that it cannot breach the three per cent cap on wage hikes in place for public sector employees under the MoU signed with trade unions more than a year ago.
Mayor Donaldson's position comes against the background of fear being expressed by residents in Norwood, St. James, as a consequence of the "stranglehold that gunmen have on the community", which he represents.
The mayor feared the consequences of the police staging a planned sick-out that will also have implications for the entire country.
"The police are putting their lives on the line every day and they are only willing to increase death benefits, that is so morbid," Mayor Donaldson commented.
