Cops say ‘all hell will break loose’ next week
RANK and file cops have threatened to protest next week if government fails to place a “reasonable” wage and fringe benefits offer on the negotiating table in a meeting scheduled for today.
“The minister is to go to government and speak to us on Friday, but I am certain that if he does not return with an answer that is pleasing to the Federation, you can expect all hell to break loose next week; I’m certain of that,” Corporal Hartley Stewart, general secretary of the Jamaica Police Federation, told the Observer.
The federation, which represents policemen and women from the ranks of constable to inspector, said negotiations Tuesday with Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies broke down as all the points in the claim submitted were rejected.
“In the first place the Ministry of Finance, during the meeting, never touched our claim, never responded to any point of our claim, never made an offer and never discussed the claim in the meeting,” Stewart claimed.
He said what was brought to the meeting was a Cabinet decision made on Monday “to effectively institute a third party within the negotiations”.
According to Stewart, the government said the proposal was for the “independent body to hear submissions from the federation and other groups and then make recommendations to government, who would then implement a salary increase”.
“The federation will have none of that,” Stewart said resolutely.
“We will not be giving up our right to negotiate, our right to determine the direction that the standards of living of rank and file police officers go,” Stewart told the Observer.
In the meantime, junior finance minister Fitz Jackson, in a statement yesterday, said the introduction of the independent body in the wage negotiations was in the interest of maintaining a stable industrial relations climate and the provision of a mediatory environment through which both government and the police groups can make their respective representations.
The independent body, Jackson said, would be asked to consider and give a recommendation on the wage claims of the various police groups after hearing presentations from each group, and the government’s response to those claims.
