PRIME Minister P J Patterson yesterday ordered the finance ministry to seek ways to settle those areas of the police wage claim that can be accomplished without undermining his Administration’s salary-freeze agreement with public sector unions.

At the same time, Patterson reaffirmed his Government’s support for the pact and assured trade union leaders that the Administration would do nothing outside its terms, despite the demands of the police for higher pay.

The directive is unlikely to be the hoped-for compromise by the Police Federation, whose members have been hinting at stronger action without a better wage offer.

Last night, at 8:45, the federation executive were still locked in a meeting considering their next move.

Chairman Raymond Wilson said he would not give a comment until the conclusion of the meeting, adding that the federation had not got any direct word on Patterson’s directive, and so would consider it irresponsible to react until they saw the Jamaica House statement.

Yesterday, as signs of militancy began to emerge, some police officers reported sick, there was a noticeable absence of some police officers from their usual beats, and some court matters went unheard.

Some of the cases, requiring the transport of prisoners from holding areas, went unheard in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s and Supreme courts. Similarly, cases were scaled back at the Traffic and Family courts, Observer checks found.

Tours of the busy Corporate Area commercial centres yesterday also revealed that those areas were bereft of police officers. Soldiers were out in some areas.

But the anticipated sick-out was not as widespread as originally expected.

In western Jamaica, for example, Assistant Commissioner of Police Keith ‘Trinity’ Gardener said less than one per cent of the more than 1,300 law enforcement officers assigned to his area had reported sick.

“These illnesses are not associated or are in any way related to any industrial, or so-called industrial action,” ACP Gardener told the Observer.

In the Corporate Area, another superintendent said only 12 of his officers were out.

Patterson’s intervention seemed to have had the desired effect of warding off serious industrial action, for now.

But the union’s position has added new uncertainty.

The Jamaica Confederation of Trade Union (JCTU) members, who 14 months ago signed the memorandum of understanding with the Government, during a meeting with the prime minister yesterday, insisted that there was no basis for a settlement with the cops without wrecking the agreement.

“The prime minister has instructed the minister of state in the Ministry of Finance, Fitz Jackson, to undertake an examination of those areas of the wage claim put forward by the Police Federation that were consistent with the MOU,” Jamaica House, the prime minister’s office, said last night.

The Police Federation, which represents police up to the rank of inspector, did not sign the MOU and has been insisting that it was not obliged to accept the terms of the two-year agreement that, in most cases, freezes wages or limits increases to three per cent in circumstances where negotiations had started.

The police have demanded a 47 per cent pay hike.

But with public sympathy in favour of the police, the low salaries and the recent targeted shooting of cops, the Government has been attempting to tiptoe its way around the issue – seeking to assuage the police yet keeping other unions onboard.

But yesterday, according to Jamaica House, union leaders, who monitor the terms of the MOU, told Patterson that they “would not be in support of increases in the wage bill or allowances to any public sector group”.

“The JCTU, however, maintained that there existed a basis for a settlement of the dispute with the Police Federation without breaching the MOU,” Jamaica House said.

It was not immediately clear what non-monetary aspects, if any, of the police claims could be settled, but previously some union officials had raised the possibility of the police being offered hazard allowance, given the dangerous nature of their jobs.

Meantime, the much-talked-about sick-out by police, to press their pay demands, seemed to peter out for the second straight day.

In most areas senior police officers said cops had turned up normally, without any unusual absences for “illness”.