Security guards assigned to the British High Commission by their employer, Hawkeye Electronic Security Limited, have rejected an offer of five per cent increase in their wages as “unacceptable” and staged a protest on Thursday to press their demand better pay.

The guards, who play a critical role in ensuring the safety and security of the high Commission and its personnel, say they have been negotiating with the security company for more than a year to increase their wages and benefits.

As the placard-bearing guards stood outside the Hawkeye branch on Belmont Road in New Kingston on Thursday voicing their frustration with the negotiation process, Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE) General Secretary John Levy shared that the union took over bargaining rights for them in May last year.

Pointing out that the union had served a wage and benefits claim within that period, which would have taken effect from May 7, 2024, Levy said negotiations have been ongoing since then, with more than 14 meetings that have ended without a “reasonable offer”.

“They are becoming frustrated and it is affecting their ability to focus properly on what they have to do, because the economic challenges are becoming overburdening on them right now. This is a message to the management to really and truly come forward with something that is reasonable, so that they can go back in and take care of their families because they are falling way behind, and the cost of living is getting away from them at a very rapid pace,” said Levy.

He said the workers are calling on Hawkeye to re-engage the British High Commission and negotiate a better deal.

“These are well-trained security guards. They are what we call diplomatic security people who have the responsibility for all those foreigners who come into the country and operate. They protect the British property, which is the British High Commission and other facilities. They must be treated fairly,” said Levy.

“The minimum wage, the last time I checked, was something like £7 per hour in England, and what they are offering the Jamaican worker it maybe amounts to somewhere around £1 or £2. I’m not exactly sure, maybe about £2, so it’s very unreasonable, and I know the British High Commission is not an organisation that treats people unfairly. The history will show that when it comes to workers, that is where a lot of the workers’ rights emanate and we are expecting that the company will have some conversation with whoever engaged them and to come back to the table with an offer in the spirit of free collective bargaining and make an offer to the workers,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

He said the job of a diplomatic security officer is no easy task, and the workers deserve to have their compensation align with the scope of their work.

“They have to be adept in underwater training, almost going in the direction of a kind of marine or naval officer. Those are the kinds of things they have to do. They have to be par excellence when it comes to firearm training and support. It’s not a run-of-the-mill role to protect diplomats from another jurisdiction. It’s a very serious responsibility. It can have implications for our own country, so those are some of the things that informed our approach to this whole process, and we believe that we are on good ground,” he said.

While he refused to state an amount that would be acceptable, Levy said the management of Hawkeye has “the numbers on the table, and I think we should take a serious look at those numbers”.

Sharon Laing, Hawkeye’s general manager for group human resources and operations, said the management team is shocked that the workers staged a protest.

“We have not finished negotiating as yet, so we are surprised that they took that action,” she told the Observer.

Laing said the workers are demanding a 100 per cent increase on their salary, and despite efforts over the last year to reach an agreement, “they have not moved from their position”.

However, a negotiating officer at UCASE, Santaj Lawson, said it is the security company that is unwilling to compromise.

“The company is… not willing to compromise on anything. When they put forward an offer, that’s it. They don’t want to compromise… so we have staged a protest to basically say to them that we are not in agreement, and we will not be strong-armed into signing any agreement that is not in the favour of the workers,” he told the Observer.

Lawson claimed that in 2014, all diplomatic security guards at embassies across Jamaica were on the same pay scale. However, that has since changed.

“Now, there is a stark difference between Hawkeye, who have officers at the British High Commission, versus the United States Embassy and also the Canadian High Commission. They are way ahead,” he said.

“Other security companies are advocating for, I guess you would say, more money for their people, but Hawkeye has not been. Hawkeye is negotiating less than the other security companies when it comes to the diplomatic missions,” said Lawson.

“It is unacceptable,” he added.

However, Laing refuted the claim that the guards were being paid substantially less than their colleagues and stated that they are currently being compensated using the highest pay scale at the security company.