It is not true that public sector workers have got no wage increase over the past five years, as even though their wages were supposed to be frozen, Government increased its public sector wage bill by some 26 per cent, according to Co-Chair of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), Richard Byles.

He was speaking during an EPOC news conference yesterday, at the Sagicor headquarters in New Kingston.

From 2010 to 2011 the Goverment wage bill was $128 billion, Byles said, while the 2014 to 2015 wage bill grew to $162 billion.

“How is that possible with a wage freeze?” Byles asked. “Although there is a wage freeze, it’s grown by 26 per cent in five years.”

Byles said he did not know if every category of worker had received that 26 per cent increase, including groups like teachers, police and civil servants. “Maybe there is an unevenness there that Government needs to see to.”

Meanwhile, further growth of the public sector bill beyond five per cent could “put our numbers in jeopardy”, Byles said.

“EPOC is concerned that whatever the result is, it doesn’t disturb the IMF agreement.”

The government had budgeted an increase for public sector workers of 5.0 per cent over two years, with 3.0 per cent in the first year and 2.0 per cent in the second. But Government has increased that.

“What is on the table is 7.0 per cent — so in a way they have exceeded the budget,” Byles said. As a result, Government may have to cut somewhere.

“I am concerned about the numbers,” Byles said.

The formal statement from EPOC underlined the concern.

“The primary responsibility of EPOC is to monitor the GOJ’s performance with respect to the critical targets of the IMF programme. From that perspective, we are concerned that a settlement of the current wage negotiation with public sector workers will force the country to breach the key targets of the primary balance and the wages to GDP ratio. We recognise the sacrifice public sector workers have made to date; however, the fragile nature of the country’s finances requires a solution that keeps the programme intact. The consequences of a programme failure would negatively impact every Jamaican, including public sector workers,” the statement said.