PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) Techa Clarke-Griffiths has taken umbrage with what she says is the high-handed manner in which the Cabinet directive cancelling all Christmas parties for government entities this year was done.

The JCSA president is also demanding to be told how the funds budgeted for those activities will be rerouted.

“I never had a challenge with that, what I had a challenge with is where the money is going to go, because if it’s for welfare purposes, if it is that you are going to cancel those events then the money must go towards our public servants who have faced damage and who are struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa,” Clarke-Griffiths told the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday following the announcement by Education, Skills, Youth, and Information Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris-Dixon at the weekly post-Hurricane Melissa press briefing at Jamaica House.

“Christmas parties for government entities are off for this year. We will not be having Christmas parties. We have agreed to allow small in-ministry or in-department recognition and morale-building activities. So if you’re doing something in the office itself that is fine, but no rental of external venues is allowed. We are strongly, though, encouraging all our ministries, departments, and agencies to conduct outreach activities with members of their team that have been affected and who reside in the affected areas,” Morris-Dixon said.

But according to Clarke-Griffiths, who said no consultations were done ahead of that announcement, the Government must be prepared to say more about how those funds will be redirected.

“What I don’t want is that the events are cancelled and then the ministry gets back that money that is set aside for welfare purposes for public servants and they have no clear policy guideline as to how that money could be transitioned into assisting members of staff in the respective ministries, departments, and agencies in the recovery process. Ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) should be allowed to utilise the funding to help workers in the respective MDAs who have been impacted by Melissa at the sacrifice of the persons who have been giving up these functions. That is my position,” she said.

“There is no communication; we were not called to a meeting to say this is what our intentions are, and this is what I don’t like with the Ministry of Finance. They make unilateral decisions without consultations with the unions, certainly not the civil service, which is the largest union, with over 30,000 members,” Clarke-Griffiths told the Observer.

“My opinion was not sought, and if it was, that would have been my response to them. Nothing about us, without us, and they don’t get that yet. If you are going to make decisions that will impact the entire public service, what happened to the consultations with the public servant representatives?

According to the JCSA president, public servants will be even more amenable and “would appreciate the fact that if it is taken away it is going towards a worthy cause and not back into the consolidated fund”. She said the budget for Christmas parties are based on the number of workers per agency, with an amount allocated per employee.

“And also some of that money can go towards psychosocial assistance for the public servants who have been traumatised by Melissa and who continue to live in substandard homes…they need counselling, some of them break down before me. It has been very, very traumatic for me. I have to experience persons with eight children sleeping on floor, it’s not easy, I have to be strong for them, I have to be their mouthpiece,” she told the Observer.

She said the displeasure was even stronger since the JCSA had made the decision to give up Civil Service Week celebrations.

“We gave up Civil Service Week and I would want the money to be channelled to the Civil Service Association to help the relief work we are actually doing now, because Civil Service Week activities were cancelled and there was nothing that was done apart from the church service. There was money in the budget for Civil Service Week, and there was a series of activities that should have been held, including long-service awards for civil servants over 25 years. Where is that money? It is not channelled to the association to help in the relief effort. That is what I want to know,” Clarke-Griffiths stated.

The JCSA president, who said she had stated this concern to Finance Minister Fayval Williams, said she had been invited to enter discussions with the ministry over the use of the funds for that week of activities which had been budgeted at approximately $8 million.

“I would want to have those monies into the Civil Service Association so that we can help those persons who are challenged, because right now I have 805 members who have completed the needs assessment form that have been severely impacted, some of them have lost their homes completely,” Clarke-Griffiths said further.

“The JCSA now has to help the persons. We have delivered over 4,200 care packages to our members in those areas and we have over 8,000 members in the west. So we do have partnership with the finance ministry for assistance in education grants that we give to the members. Similarly, we would want the same partnership as it relates to the Civil Service Week allocations. It could be a special allocation that is used for our public servants for giving up those activities for the week, and I don’t see a substitute for that,” she added.

Hurricane Melissa bore down on Jamaica on October 28, making landfall at New Hope, Westmoreland, packing winds of 185 miles per hour, causing unprecedented flooding across the southern and western belt of the island.

MORRIS-DIXON…Christmas parties for government entities are off for this year.