APPROXIMATELY 120,000 public sector employees can expect to benefit from a cost-saving programme —Team Jamaica ValuCard — which was launched on Friday at the Shopper’s Fair located at Sovereign Centre on the Boulevard (formerly Michi Super Center) in Kingston. Team Jamaica ValuCard was instituted under the publicprivate partnership as a subsidy for the income earned by public servants through a cash-back rewards programme, which will be managed by ePayment (ePay) Group Limited.

The initiative was realised through an agreement between the Jamaican Government, trade unions representing the various civil service groups, and 10 private sector companies along with ePay. According to e-Pay’s Managing Director Lennox Robinson, who originally proposed the concept to PSOJ President William Mahfood, “Potentially the cash back can save the public sector worker between $2,000 and $4,000 per month.

This programme can double the increase [already] received by public sector workers.” But Robinson is also convinced that this measure can have far-reaching impact for the average public servant. He told the Jamaica Observer that when one considers that a civil servant buys grocery for a family of three or four individuals, and receives between five and 20 per cent rebate for purchases, then the cost saving is not only for those 120,000 employees, but actually another 240,000 people.

Additionally, they can also benefit from loyalty points from select participating partners. So far, some 45,000 civil servants have received a Team Jamaica ValuCard, and another 70,000 will be issued over the next three weeks throughout Government ministries and agencies, which can be used at over 1,500 merchant locations to purchase groceries, as well as to pay for health care and utilities, among other things via point-of-sale units.

Horace Dalley, minister with responsibility for public service in the Ministry of Finance, noted that partnership “has been integral in the public sector reform programme”, and that it “ensures [continued] investment and increased employment”.

Minister Dalley, like the various private sector partners, said the initiative signalled an “investment in the public sector” for workers who have “sacrificed much under the Economic Reform Programme” for the last seven years, adding that last year would have been the final year of a public sector wage freeze.

To this Mahfood, chairman of Wisynco, which is party to the agreement, added: “This event will break down the barrier between public sector and private sector.”

He also said that without trust between the two, our country’s economy “would not move forward”. “Is the private sector willing to give back to the public sector?” Mahfood asked. “The better that the companies do is the more the country benefits, and the better salaries public sector workers get. Today we challenge the private sector for more partners to come on board.”

Team Jamaica ValuCard also provides economic opportunities for participating merchants, ePay’s Robinson pointed out, as they can “broaden their customer base” by reaching out to the public sector, while also attracting loyal return customers.

The ten participating private sector companies include: Progressive Grocers (also trading as Shoppers Fair, Tastee, Industrial Gas Limited, Victoria Mutual Building Society, Bert’s Auto, Fontana Pharmacy, Medical Associates, Wisynco Group, Lasco Group, and Mailpac. ePay also has partnerships with Tools Hardware, Digicel and MegaMart. The company had previously issued 5,000 eCards for purchase of meals by students and employees of several private sector entities.