KINGSTON, Jamaica —

Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday instructed that creative ways be found to compensate public sector workers where possible.

He also assured public sector workers that the Finance Ministry’s team will move with alacrity and have serious engagements toward an amicable resolution to the wage negotiations.

“This is a position we have always maintained, as given the fiscal constraints it was always going to be necessary that “out of the box” methods are applied to arrive at a win-win situation. These “creative ways” however, we feel must not only be about finding available resources but must of necessity include a merit pay mechanism so that greater productivity is the result,” the PSOJ said in a release.

It cited an example in the case of the police, explaining that there is no doubt that there should be an objective measurement based on the crime statistics and the general law and order in the society.

It further added that achieving these present objectives could be funded by the proceeds of crime, which in turn would reduce crime and allow us to benefit from the four to six per cent of GDP lost to crime in the country.

Meanwhile, President of the PSOJ, Howard Mitchell, stated “The directive by the prime minister is encouraging, and it is our hope that there can be a speedy resolution, as it is important that the matter of the wage negotiations is settled so that we can focus our attention on growing the economy, which includes placing our emphasis behind addressing the problem of crime.

“While the wage negotiations remain incomplete, this can only be a distraction from the greater efforts of economic and social development.”