Martin Henry
THE GOVERNMENT is by-passing a golden opportunity to wring more out of its civil service by way of improved performance through the second Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was finally signed on Tuesday. It certainly did not make any special effort with MoU 1 to specifically tie the deal to improved performance.
Over 80,000 public sector workers stand to benefit from half a billion dollars of loan financing for upgrading with tertiary education courses plus $50 million more for lower level skills training as part of the MoU 2 deal. As far as the Government should be concerned, and certainly the taxpayers who are footing the bill, educational upgrading by public servants under the loan fund agreement is not just a matter of personal benefit and advancement. It really is a matter of being better prepared to deliver higher quality service.
GOOD DEAL
The trade unions representing the public sector workers under the umbrella Jamaica Confedera-tion of Trade Unions are certainly not unhappy with the deal. In addition to benefits like revolving loan fund for education, increases in salaries under the new MoU will run from a low of 13 per cent to a high of 27 per cent. Leader after leader has publicly celebrated the deal. The outspoken president of the University Allied Workers' Union, Lambert Brown, has described the new labour agreement as a victory for the trade unions and a win-win for the country. It was the best that could be done under the circumstances, he said, pointing out that the MoU comes with a lot of benefits to workers including job security, housing and training. Wayne Jones, president of the Jamaica Civil Service Association, said he was delighted at the developmental benefits that were secured through the new MoU. Helene Davis-Whyte and Hopeton Caven have also warmly endorsed it.
The win for the country, which the UAWU boss is touting, can and should be extended to improved quality of service delivery and greater efficiency by the public service. After debt, the public sector wage bill is the single largest item of expenditure in the Budget. Public sector workers are not particularly well paid, especially at the lower levels as the State Minister for Finance, Fitz Jackson has readily admitted. But there has to be a greater demand for and measuring of value for money.
The MoUs could have given the Government a lot of leverage to set performance improvement targets, introduce performance measures and performance appraisal systems, and hold public sector workers to greater accountability for delivering higher quality service with greater efficiency as conditions for the retention of jobs. The deal, on the Government's side, did not have to be limited to wage restraint.
The same unions involved with the public sector MoUs were involved with the negotiation of the Manley accord in the bauxite sector. Their leaders could turn around and boast of increased worker productivity under the job retention and productivity-linked pay increases provisions of the Accord. There is no sane reason for the exemption of the public service from a similar approach.
REWARDING EXCELLENCE
While MoU 2 was being negotiated, the Citizen's Charter/ Customer Improvement Pro-gramme was busy congratulating itself on "promoting and rewarding excellence in service delivery in public sector entities". That programme was launched 12 years ago by former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson on December 13, 1994, in honour of the 50th anniversary of Universal Adult Suffrage.
I poured a lot of citizen's volunteer time into the creation of the programme at ground level. Disappointingly, it has yet substantially to transform public service in terms of the daily experiences of citizens, although there have been significant improvements here and there. The MoU had the potential of providing a much needed shot in the arm for this struggling token programme.
Martin Henry is a communication consultant.
