Stewart

Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The Police Federation has accused the Government of dragging its feet in implementing a 40-hour workweek for the island's rank-and-file officers.

The Gleaner obtained a letter written by the federation earlier this month and addressed to Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips.

The letter outlined the long road of the federation's lobby for implementation of a 40-hour workweek, on which Phillips repeatedly promised a Cabinet submission before the Christmas break last year.

However, the Police Federation says it is yet to get a response from Dr. Phillips.

Deeply disappointed

"The federation is deeply disappointed that two years after the ministry gave its commitment to a negotiated process, we still have been unable to get under way," Corporal Hartley Stewart, general secretary of the Police Federation, told The Gleaner on Saturday.

"The central executive is coming under tremendous pressure from the rank and file, who themselves are breaking under the strain of consistently working in excess of 70 hours per week," he added.

The general secretary pointed out that a 40-hour workweek was crucial to effective policing from the federation's members.

"We are hopeful that the minister gets the issue to Cabinet for Monday, April 30," said Stewart.

However, Stewart said if the situation prolongs, the federation would be requesting that Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas instruct his divisional commanders to schedule persons to work for no more than 40 hours each week.

"There is bound to be some impact on national security because the 8,500 regular police (officers) are currently working on average 75 per cent longer that 40 hours," he explained.

Major concerns

"Without the structured way of implementation, that a negotiation would bring, then there are bound to be hiccups and quality-of-serviceconcerns," said Stewart.

He noted that if the com-missioner of police refuses to sign off on the 40-hour workweek, "based on the depth of the feeling in our force, we will have our members make a conscience decision".

The federation is to conduct pre-conference consultations across the island, beginning this week. Stewart said the 40-hour workweek is expected to top the agenda. The conference is to be held May 30-June 1 at Starfish Trelawny.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com