Wait-and-see mode at Customs after meeting with Clarke
Employees of Jamaica Customs who were on edge on Monday ahead of a meeting with Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke to discuss salaries under the present compensation review say they are now in wait-and-see mode after that exchange left them with no answers.
The workers, who had been adamant that they would not be pacified by any offer that places them at a financial disadvantage, said Clarke left the meeting without making any definite commitments.
“The minister came, he spoke to us, we put forward our position and he promised that he would get back to us soon — no definitive timeline. A lot of people were not necessarily pleased with that,” a representative told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday evening.
He said workers, who were “cordial and respectful” during the meeting, did not appear very hopeful following the minister’s appearance. The source, who said no ultimatums were given, described the mood amongst workers as “more apathy than anything”.
On Monday, a source with whom the Observer spoke ahead of the meeting had said, “I don’t think it’s a negotiation that’s going to happen. The minister has asked to meet with the entire staff of the agency and not just the management team and the unions to come to consensus. We believe this is a meeting to try and sell what has been put on the table by the technocrats from the Ministry of Finance.” According to the source, workers are in no mood to accept that.
“Pretty much what we hope is that the meeting will give the minister an opportunity to rethink the salaries that have been sent to us that will see most, if not all, staff members in worse position than they are currently in. We have submitted a very detailed analysis of what we think is a fair package based on historical trends and how we are normally compensated as members of an executive agency versus the rest of the public sector,” the source noted.
“In recent weeks we recovered over 80 firearms and billions of dollars worth of narcotics, while at the same time facilitating trade and achieving the increased revenue targets set by the Ministry of Finance,” the source pointed out.
“We think it’s highly unfair for them to place the commissioner of customs at a level 14 while placing the commissioner of police at level 16, given the fact that the commissioner of customs has responsibility for border protection, trade facilitation, and collection of approximately 35-40 per cent of the country’s revenue. We all are pegged to the commissioner, so if she is placed at a lower level, then the salaries of all staff members naturally decrease,” the individual said at the time.
In the meantime, the minister also met with employees of Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) who have been locked in an equally acrimonious wage negotiation.
Following that meeting, one source said, “What was promised is that we would get our salary scales in the next few days and so we are waiting to see if we will be in a better position or worse. We had a salary scale before, but under the review we don’t know where we fall.”
“We don’t know where our commissioner is supposed to be, level 14 can’t help us…basically we are at a standstill. Our commissioner has to be at least level 16 because one of the issues we have with TAJ is we are semi-autonomous so we have a board that we report to, so we didn’t see why we are being dragged back into the public sector,” the source said.
“The competence that is required of us deserves remuneration that is commensurate, so you can’t put TAJ in the general pool,” the individual added.