MINISTER with responsibility for the public sector, Horace Dalley, is sticking to his position that the current wage freeze for government workers will not extend beyond March 31.

“There won’t be a wage restraint, because I won’t be the one to ask for it, and the minister (of finance) has said that he will not be asking for it,” Dalley told the Jamaica Observer at Gordon House, on Thursday.

However, he emphasised that the trade unions and associations representing the workers must be realistic and show restraint in the negotiations which are expected to start in earnest in a few weeks.

The Jamaica Observer learnt Thursday that a meeting of members unions of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), which had been planned for yesterday to finalise their joint claims on behalf of the public sector workers, has been postponed to Monday. But, despite the fact that these unions have not yet submitted their claims, Dalley was insisting yesterday that the process is already started.

He said that the ministry of finance and planning is already looking at some claims which have been submitted, including the Jamaica Teachers’ Association’s (JTA), which he suggested was not what he had expected from the teachers.

“They were astronomical!” Dalley said, revealing his amazement at the demands made by the teachers in their claims. However, he insisted that he had confidence in the trade union leaders that they would exercise enough restraint to allow for a compromise.

“While we won’t be asking for a wage restraint, they have to temper their demands and understand, read and digest the economic data we are making available to them,” he said.

“I believe that the union leaders and the workers who have helped us to reach this far, none of them would want an economic collapse or their jobs jeopardised, because of a failure to compromise,” Dalley predicted.

“We will conclude the agreement before March 31, because the budget has to be cast by April first, and we do not intend to return to the chaos that we inherited,” he added.

Dalley had informed the Observer in October that the Government expects to offer an increase in wages to the public sector workers when the negotiations start this year.

“The cabinet is not preparing for another wage freeze. Something will be on the table,” he said then. However, since that statement, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the Jamaican Government of the need to enact another wage restraint programme, in order to meet the country’s 2015/16 budget targets.