Heather Robinson
ON THURSDAY, Jamaica was facing a strike by members of staff of the National Water Commission (NWC) and the possibility of further strike action by employees of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC). Happily both groups are back at work.
These groups of workers were all crying out for more pay. Last week, the outgoing chairman of the Police Officers Association (POA) complained about the disparity in salaries between British-recruited officers and their local counterparts. Do these workers have the right to ask for more?
Let us look at the first group of workers. Employees of the National Water Commission are perhaps the most important group of workers when one considers daily survival. Water is used to bathe, wash, cook and clean in every home. Without it, we are an irritable, smelly, hungry and dirty people. There is no ice to cool our ruffled feathers, or water to wash away the muck and dirt of our daily labours. There is no doubt that water is the most vital commodity available to mankind.
SCHOOLS CLOSED
Imagine what happens in a home with two or more children with no water to bathe or flush the toilet. Several schools were closed because they had no water. If the strikes had continued, offices would have closed and hospitals thereafter. Water is indeed life.
Workers employed to the JUTC provide a valuable service for residents of the Corporate Area, Spanish Town and Portmore. Regardless of the competition these buses receive from taxis and other buses, the Government has seen the need to continue to provide this subsidised service for commuters. The important role played by these workers is best seen when their service is withdrawn. Literally hundreds of stranded commuters are left to fend for themselves ranging from the very young to the very old.
Is there a police officer who performs his job efficiently and effectively who is paid the correct salary anywhere in the Caribbean or even in North America or the United Kingdom? I think not. Comparisons have been made between the salary of Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields and that of Commissioner Lucius Thomas. But why has no one found it necessary to compare the salary of Mr. Shields with that of the Minister of National Security or indeed the Prime Minister.
The Cabinet of the Government of Jamaica decided that it would employ the services of foreign police officers to assist us in crime fighting. Then Prime Minister P.J. Patterson would have been the one to have chaired such meetings that made the decision to employ police officers who would earn salaries that would be the equivalent of multiples of his and his ministers.
MEASURING PERFORMANCE
It is always difficult to measure the performance of workers. How do we decide to compensate the best and most efficient plumber at the NWC? Is it based on his quick response to the broken main on my street, or how early he arrives at work and gives his best during the full eight hours? Do we pay the bus driver at the JUTC with no accident record more than we pay the driver who has had in excess of five accidents? And do we pay the customer service agent (conductress) who is never short, the same as one who is repeatedly short?
Perhaps, it is time for us in Jamaica to begin to pay salaries based purely on performance, and then there would be a reduction in the undeserved making requests for more. Water, transportation and security are essentials of any modern society. Without them we are like lost souls on a desert island. They are like food for our bodies. May we find an equitable way to solve these situations.
Heather Robinson is a life underwriter and former Member of Parliament.
