Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) Managing Director Dr Maria Myers-Hamilton is dismissing as untrue, claims made by the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE) regarding several senior managers whose fixed-term contracts were not renewed.

In a news release on Wednesday claiming victimisation, UCASE claimed that since it gained bargaining rights at SMA in September 2023 there have been a relatively high number of non-renewal of contracts affecting five senior managers, three of whom are members of the union.

“These non-renewals, which are effectively dismissals, have occurred despite the Ministry of Finance approving these posts as permanent positions at the entities,” the release said.

But Myers-Hamilton countered this by saying that over the period since staff became unionised, 18 contracts were called up for renewal and nine members of UCASE have had their contracts renewed.

“Out of 32 contract employees, we have four temporary and 15 permanent members of staff who opted to go permanent. To date, it is only three out of the [18] who have not been renewed. To say that there is victimisation, that is rubbish. That is not true. I don’t know where that is coming from because we do not victimise persons at the SMA,” she told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday.

Myers-Hamilton further explained that with a non-renewal — when the contract comes to a natural end — either one of the parties has the option to move forward or not, “but the individual is actually fully paid-out, whether it is their gratuity and everything, but it is not that they are disenfranchised”.

But in an earlier interview, UCASE Secretary General John Levy told the Observer that this is the conclusion he came to “based on my own investigation in terms of feedback from the staff, in terms of the people that have been pushed out, in terms of the documentation that I would have seen”.

Levy was referring to the performance appraisals of at least two managers, which he claimed were marked down by Myers-Hamilton, after being given a higher score by their supervisors.

In Wednesday’s release, UCASE claimed that the staff has been experiencing high levels of intimidation since joining the union, with employees seeing an unusually massive drop in their performance appraisal scores “while people at the top continue to enjoy high performance scores and high incentive payments”.

Myers-Hamilton explained that in the case of performance appraisals, a conversation is had with the supervisor who submitted the form to her and she gives her feedback as it relates to the performance of a specific individual.

“I have marked down everybody’s appraisal. So what happens is that they do a self-appraisal of themselves and then it comes in front of me and… they can actually set a time to come and talk to me [if they have concerns] and some persons actually have,” she explained.

“So let’s say the appraisal comes to me and I review it and… everybody is giving themselves five, it’s like they’re a shooting star; you are doing over and above what is expected, because three is that you’re [meeting] all your KPIs [key performance indicators], four is outstanding, but everybody putting five and I said, you have to demonstrate to me why you justify the five; give me a reason for the five,” she said.

She stressed that an appraisal is not a weapon, but a process to give feedback on areas of performance that can be improved and to identify training gaps.

“It has not been weaponised, and this is the impression he [Levy] is giving because it’s not that way at all. Anybody who needs to meet with me can walk in my door. At the SMA… the cleaners, the security guards, anybody, if they have an issue, can come to my door as MD to ask to get a moment and I give them a moment,” she said.

“He [Levy] is painting a picture that is not true; we don’t have that at the SMA. Maybe there is one disgruntled person, I don’t know, but what is happening is, he’s trying to paint a picture with a brush and it’s not true. It’s very hurtful to me, actually, because everybody in that organisation has grown immensely. We promote within… there is upward mobility in the organisation, utilising the people who have been there, who are doing the work,” Myers-Hamilton said.

She said people who have been marked down in their appraisals know why it was marked down, but have not come to her office to contest it. “Only about three persons have come to me and asked me to explain what has happened. If people have not come to me I can’t help that. If they have an issue, come to me, it shouldn’t be that you’re going to the union. Why are you going to the union? I have not turned you down,” she said.

In the meantime, Myers-Hamilton insisted accountability is important as the entity tries to be impactful in whatever it does to ensure it is delivering on its promises.

“It’s all about giving back to nation-building. We play an extremely important role in ensuring that the spectrum is available and also interference free. There are many in the field and persons behind the scenes who are working to do this… I am very proud of my team. And I could not do this without them,” she said.