Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter

Allwood-Anderson

President of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ), Edith Allwood-Anderson, has reiterated that the group would not reconsider rejoining the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), despite the role played by the JCTU in helping to settle wage disputes with the Government.

"No, there is no consideration at this time. They (JCTU) were the ones who set up the whole negotiation thing and they came and assisted us because they knew what they had done," she said.

Senator Dwight Nelson, president of the JCTU, an umbrella group of trade unions in Jamaica, is hoping that the JCTU's assistance would have opened up a platform for discussion between both groups.

According to Sen. Nelson, the JCTU had become very concerned when it heard that the wage dispute between the nurses and Government would have to be referred to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal. He said that development would have been unnecessary.

"So the JCTU made contact with the Nurses Association and offered its assistance, which was accepted," he told The Gleaner yesterday.

Mrs. Allwood-Anderson maintained that a settlement was made in the interest of the country and the Government's promise that it would reclassify nurses by next year.

"That is one of the bases for settlement, that they will reclassify nurses, (and) implement it by July 2007," she said.

Reclassification will facilitate increased wages for nurses performing duties which are strictly the domain of higher-level colleagues.

The nurses agreed to an increase of 19 per cent in year one and five per cent in year two. They were initially asking for an 80 per cent increase in year one and 40 per cent in year two.

Country's interest

"We have not caved in. Our eyes were wide open. We know it was time for us to do a settlement in the interest of the country and we know that they promised us a reclassification based on what was happening and so we did that," she told The Gleaner.

The agreement is four per cent above what was agreed under the second Memorandum of Understanding between Government and public sector employees. The nurses will also be getting an increase in their professional accessories and tailoring allowance and an increase from two to three sessions per week for standby and on-call allowances for registered nurses and mental health officers.

They are due to sign the new wage agreement today at 10:00 a.m. at the Ministry of Finance.