THE Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) yesterday accused Prime Minister Bruce Golding of acting prematurely in announcing a public sector wage freeze.

JCTU vice-president Danny Roberts, in an interview with the Observer, said negotiations with the unions were yet to be concluded.

“The trade unions have not signed off with the Government of Jamaica on any wage freeze for public sector workers,” added Roberts.

“In fact, we are in the midst of discussions with the Ministry of Finance and are awaiting information based on certain matters raised by us at the last meeting,” he said.

Golding, in an address to the nation Sunday night, announced that he was taking a 15 per cent pay cut and asked parliamentarians to take 10 per cent salary cuts. At the same time, he announced a wage freeze for civil servants at levels that obtained at March 31, in reaction to mounting Government debts and expected shortfall in the upcoming budget.

The public-sector wage bill stood at approximately $110 billion in the 2008/9 last fiscal year and was projected to climb to $149 billion in the coming year.

Options being mooted to contain the public sector wage bill include a wage freeze, salary cuts, redundancies and the merging or closing of some state entities.

Roberts said the JCTU had already begun discussions with its membership about the possibilities of a suspension of the second-year wage increase rather than a total freeze on wages.

“It would have to be a suspension, not a freeze,” Roberts said. “They would still have to pay it (wage increases) at a later date.”

At the same time, Roberts commended the prime minister for taking a 15 per cent drop in his

salary and proposing a wage cut for parliamentarians, but urged Government to increase its efforts in tax compliance from the private sector which he said owed the bulk of the $600 billion in uncollected taxes.

Public sector workers, Roberts said, were already bearing the heaviest burden of “spiralling inflation and onerous taxes” while hundreds of companies were engaged in tax avoidance and tax evasion.

“We are not sure what the private sector is prepared to give us in these very difficult times; what sacrifice are they are prepared to make having regard to the fact that over $600 billion of the taxes owed to the Government would largely be from the private sector?” asked Roberts.

“The bold and decisive action on the part of the Government must be to collect the taxes from the thousands of own-account workers who are either not paying their full statutory amount or are not paying any taxes at all,” said the trade unionist.

“This is what we expect the budget to emphasise in terms of revenue collection as the monies are out there,” he said.

In the meantime, President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) Chris Zacca yesterday supported Golding’s decision to take a salary cut and his request to MPs to do the same.

According to Zacca, a number of private sector companies were employing salary cuts and other cost-cutting initiatives. “This is an extremely tough time for everybody in the country; when we fall on tough times we all have to cut our costs,” he said.