Union Head to Approach Public Sector Wage Negotiations with ‘Open-Mind’

President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, JCTU, St Patrice Ennis, says the union will be heading into the next round of public sector wage negotiations with an open-mind.

He was speaking on Nationwide This Morning on Tuesday.

Colleicia Wright reports.

Ahead of wage talks, chairman of the former Economic Programme Oversight Committee, EPOC, Keith Duncan says the nation’s civil servants must be reasonable in their demands.

Similarly, he has urged the Jamaican people not to expect extensive economic giveaways for the upcoming fiscal year.

This, as he expressed concern about the ballooning cost of the public sector wage bill.

Duncan, who was speaking on Nationwide at Five on Monday says wages and salaries are set to account for 48 per cent of tax revenues in the next financial year.

The JCTU president, St Patrice Ennis, says tempering expectations might be difficult to do if the government is to retain its best employees in the public sector.

But he says the JCTU will enter the negotiations with an open mind.

He says they union will assess the economic data, to include inflation, growth projections and revenue intake to determine the demands it brings to the negotiating table.

Ennis says this will guide the unions on the best position to take.