Hopes of rank and file police getting a pay increase this year were dashed Friday by the Ministry of Finance’s insistence that a pay increase would breach the current Memorandum of Understanding with the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU).

“In keeping with the undertaking in the MOU, we are not granting any increases on wages for that period,” Minister of State Fitz Jackson told a press briefing at National Heroes Circle in Kingston.

Sections of the media had been reporting that while the Police Federation had been seeking a 45 per cent increase for its members, the Government would stick to a three per cent cap on pay increases under the MOU.

But Jackson said Friday that the police were not even entitled to three per cent.

“There is no provision for a three per cent during 2004 to 2006 (the period of wage freeze under the MOU),” he said. “The three per cent that is referred to in the MOU dealt with outstanding negotiations that were not concluded for the period 2002 or 2003 and up to 2004.”

“At the time that we were having the discussions on the MOU, there were one or two groups whose contracts were not settled. Our position was, what was on the table, in terms of what we offered them, would obtain, and anything else would be capped at three per cent. So that’s what the three per cent referred to, outstanding negotiations for periods prior to April 1, 2004,” he further explained.

“We had not yet started negotiations with the police and, as you are aware, the Government’s position is that the undertaking given in the MOU will be carried through the entire public service. That is what we have conveyed to the police,” Jackson added.

Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Omar Davies would add nothing further to the statement except, “that’s all we are going to say about that”.

Police Federation president David White had suggested that a 45 per cent pay increase over two years was reasonable, “taking into consideration the economic constraints of our members”.

At the start of the month, minister of national security, Dr Peter Phillips, had told the federation’s annual conference in Ocho Rios that the Government would be sticking to the terms of the MOU.

“The survival of the country is dependent on that MOU holding,” Phillips told the police meeting.

At Friday’s briefing, Dr Davies, in response to questions from the media, said that meetings were going on between the Government, the trade unions and the private sector on a broader MOU.

An IMF statement, based on its recent mission to Kingston, which was circulated at the briefing, said that the mission was “encouraged in its discussions with representatives of the private sector by indications of an emerging consensus on the need for a broader social partnership”.

Pressed on the perceived delay in widening the social contract to include the private sector, Dr Davies said: “As long as the dialogue is going on, and we are all sitting at the same table, it’s good.”