Things Jamaica workers protest for overdue pay increases

By Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter

Employees of the government-run Things Jamaica Limited protest in front of Devon House, Kingston, yesterday to call attention to their low salaries. - Rudolph Brown

OBADIAH GAYNOR who has worked as a supervisor of groundsmen for Things Jamaica Limited for six years says he has nothing to show for it.

With a weekly salary of $1,800 after taxes, he is barely surviving.

"Only God know how ah mek it," said the elderly father of two, one of whom is still in school.

So yesterday, he put down his rake and broom, took up a placard and joined his colleagues in a protest at both entrances to Devon House in Kingston.

Mr. Gaynor was highly critical of the Things Jamaica management. "We can't go back to work under those conditions and we don't know if we ah get anything cause it rough," he said. He was not alone in his criticism.

Other employees said they had not seen an increase in salaries, ranging from $1,500 to $2,400, in more than three years.

"Bus fare gone up wey day and mi can't manage cause mi haffi pay $100 ah day fi come here," explained Rohan Fyffe, who has worked there for six years.

He said most times when he gets his pay on a Friday, he can hardly do anything.

"Mi can't buy a shoes, mi can't buy a shirt. Mi can't do nutten. More time, mi haffi hustle little money de pan de side jus' fi cook Sunday dinner. Every minute a different manager come in and them tell wi say we a get raise ah pay and then nutten happen. Wi need justice cause it no look like wi ah get nothing. Wi just a live hand to mouth," added Mr. Fyffe.

Ms. Veronica Davis, a sales clerk and Sonia Huxtable, a janitor, said the low salaries had affected their ability to provide for their children. Ms. Huxtable worried she would have to watch her son go blind because she was unable to purchase eyeglasses valued at $5,500 for him on a salary of $1,500 weekly. Ms. Davis, who is paid $2,400 weekly after taxes, was having a hard time sending money to her daughter overseas.

"We are tired of it now," Ms. Davis said.

A meeting has been arranged today between the unions, the management of Things Jamaica Limited and Ministry of Labour officials to try to iron out the problems.

A representative from the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Kavan Gayle, and his counterpart from the National Workers Union (NWU), Granville Valentine, confirmed this yesterday.

Mr. Gayle said the unions had been struggling to get an increase since April last year when a wage claim was served.

Following that, he said the management had told him it needed an injection of funds so negotiations were put on hold so Things Jamaica could get the capital.

"But since then, we have had no meetings. We have made contact with the chairman last Friday with the intention of setting up a meeting with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce only to get a fax from the chairman yesterday indicating he was no longer chairman. That's really the straw that broke the camel's back," Mr. Gayle said.

A company director, Albert Gray, was on hand for a short time yesterday to defend the management's decision, explaining the company had been operating at a loss and therefore no increases could be promised.

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