Petrina Francis, Staff ReporterTHE JAMAICA Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) yesterday formally rejected the Government's offer of a 20 per cent increase in the public sector wage fund and called a meeting for next Tuesday to prepare a counter proposal.
The offer, made by the Government following the March 31 end of the historic two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), was 13 per cent of the current wage bill in the first year and seven per cent of current wages and salaries in the second year. The first MoU, among other things, restricted wage increases for some 88,000 public sector workers.
"The meeting was of the view that the wage fund of 20 per cent of the wage bill was deemed inadequate to meet the expected demands of public sector workers and therefore was rejected," said Danny Roberts, vice-president of the JCTU.
Mr. Roberts told The Gleaner following the meeting, which was held at the JCTU's head offices in Kingston, that a number of proposals from the respective unions were put forward. He noted that the JCTU will meet again on Tuesday to finalise the figures that came out of those proposals.
Mr. Roberts however declined to discuss the figures that were proposed.
NO FORMAL REJECTION
Contacted yesterday, Fitz Jackson, State Minister for Finance, said his ministry had not received a formal rejection from the JCTU and declined to comment until he received the details of the unions' position.
The nurses and teachers groups, which are members of the JCTU, had made it clear weeks ago that they would not take the offer on the table.
Ruel Reid, president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), described the offer as insulting to the island's more than 20,000 teachers.
Representatives of the Nurses Association of Jamaica walked out of yesterday's meeting, noting that the proposed MoU would reduce the fringe benefits of nurses.
The Government wants to have a second MoU in place by April 30 when an extension to its hardship allowance expires.
