MONTEGO BAY, St James — Improvements at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) are expected to bolster the welfare of staff at the agency.

That’s the word from executive director of the entity Audley Gordon who said that in recent times they have worked to spearhead changes for the betterment of staff of the entity, to include the relocation of offices.

“You would go into a little meeting room and it is like a wholesale where they sell chicken back [given] the amount of boxes that’s packed in there,” he lamented during his address at the official opening of the new office space for Western Parks and Markets (WPM) at Ironshore Industrial Estate on Tuesday.

WPM is the regional arm for NSWMA.

“We lobbied Government and we asked for space in our budget to accommodate relocation of offices, to upgrade the offices so that the staff can feel respected, that they can feel that they are a part of something good, that they can know that when they leave their yard they are going to a place that’s comfortable,” he continued.

So far, there have been plans for the relocation of office spaces for at least three regional offices, with two having taken place in Kingston and Montego Bay and one more set to happen in the south of the island.

“We believe and we started in Metropolitan Parks and Markets — we relocated them from Hagley Park Road to Spanish Town Road in a much better place. We have now moved WPM from Freeport, in that little cubicle on the plaza, to a proper office location,” he said

“We are excited to tell you that we have found place for Southern Parks and Markets, and they will be moving in June,” he revealed.

This, he said, is expected to provide a major boost — especially for the administrative staff which have been working in cramped and other unsatisfactory conditions over the years.

“When we talk about pivoting to productivity we know that where you spend most of your working moments is your office [so it], of course, must be in a condition that enhances productivity,” he said.

Further to that, he said staff have been tied to the organisation as a great number of them have seen their posts become permanent.

“NSWMA is among the first entities to be reporting this morning that [for] nearly 2,000 persons, I have signed permanent letters for them across Jamaica, taking them out of this uncertainty of contract work to where they can plan their lives now and they can make life-changing decisions financially because they know where their bread is coming from once they go to work and do their work,” he said about the change.

He explained that initially when he joined the organisation eight years ago, staff members on contract faced challenges with breaks in employment, among other issues.

“Imagine a person working a small wage, that person usually lives hand to mouth, sometimes the hand can barely reach the mouth,” he lamented.

“Your contract expire, then you’re out of a salary for two, three months waiting on a call to go back; that’s modern-day slavery and I could not live with that,” he declared.

He said by working with the board at NSWMA and the Ministry of Local Government, they were able to bring the matter to a suitable conclusion.

He also announced another benefit whereby all staff members are set to gain from are pension arrangements.

“It’s one thing to have nice offices, it’s another thing to have good wages, but what about when you get old and can’t work anymore? I am to report this morning that we have met with Sagicor, we have arrived at certain decisions with them, but we didn’t want to go too fast ahead of ourselves,” he said.

“We met with a core team of people from across the regions and we settled on certain things, and we are telling you that before this year end every staff at the NSWMA will have full pension benefits,” he declared.

He also implored staff members to seek to improve themselves educationally because there will be improved opportunities within the agency.

“We are big on staff welfare, we are big on the quality of life of our staff, we are big on the working conditions,” he said.