By Ayanna Kirton, Gleaner WriterNORMAN DA COSTA, vice-president and deputy island supervisor of the National Workers Union (NWU) blasted the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently signed by the Government and the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), saying it lacked credibility.
In an interview with the Financial Gleaner, Mr. Da Costa called the MoU a "sweetheart deal between the Government and a small clique of trade unions," which would only serve to impose more hardships on the already overburdened working class, specifically against the background of steep increases in the costs of goods and services.
The Memorandum of Understanding stipulates that public sector employees will see a three per cent cap on any increases in their wages during the period 2004 to 2006. The savings expected from the salary cap over the upcoming two-year period would amount to approximately $5 billion, according to the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies. The alternative to the MoU would have been the termination of 15,000 Government jobs.
However, Mr. Da Costa said further clarification of what kinds of jobs would have been lost and the specific governmental departments which would have had to bear these losses should have been put forward by the authorities. Without this information, Mr. Da Costa said the claims of job losses at such a large scale could lead one to question the veracity of those numbers. "If that many jobs are cut you run the risk of seriously dislocating various sectors, which would become virtually shut down," he said.
Mr. Da Costa also said the public sector was over staffed and that it was important for authorities to determine the optimal size of the public sector. "It is important to establish the number of persons needed to efficiently and effectively deliver public services," he said. He said the massive public sector was due to the high recruitment rate in 2002 when 16,000 persons were hired. This, he said, could have been attributed to the imminent general elections, which were held in October of that year.
ALTERNATIVES
Instead of the wage restraint proposed by the MoU, Mr. Da Costa said voluntary redundancy and early retirement were two more practical alternatives. He said by making both alternatives voluntary, the authorities would be able to cut down the size of the public sector since it was filled with persons who were unmotivated and eager to pursue other careers. " A great proportion of the 16,000 persons taken on in 2002 have a low working morale largely because their jobs are not challenging and there is precious little scope for mobility," he said. "Many would gladly take a modest redundancy package to pursue other jobs or to set up their own businesses," he said.
The NWU vice-president said the authorities could determine high and low potential employees through a process of evaluation, reserving the right to retain high potential employees. This would in turn maximise efficiency and increase the technical competency of the public sector, while "creating upward mobility for those employees at the lower rung of the ladder." The end result? "Killing two birds with one stone," he said. "The Government would reduce its wage bills while securing necessary public jobs."
Commenting on the effectiveness of the MoU, Mr. Da Costa said it could only be as effective as its monitoring and enforcement arrangements, which continued to be threatened "by promises that were never kept." "Monitoring and enforcement cannot be achieved where there is no transparency and accountability and the vague promises that have been made are at variance with reality," he said. According to Mr. Da Costa, if the proposed MoU is to become more than a charade, the social partners must seriously focus on:
The mushrooming expenditure on corruption and waste within both the public and private sectors debt and interest costs.
The expensive and relatively unproductive Government consultant brigade.
Excessive taxation.
The creation of an enabling environment for broad-based growth, development, and employment.
Mr. Da Costa said the number of consultants employed by the Government was also cause for concern. "We have to run a steamroller through this consultancy brigade," he said. Mr. Da Costa said consultants were a tremendous drain on Government finances and were unnecessary in an administration where permanent secretaries, ministers, junior ministers, parish councillors and other Government employees were capable of doing the jobs of consultants.
He also appealed to the Government to make the creation of an enabling environment, one that fostered entrepreneurship and local investment, its primary focus. According to Mr. Da Costa, the Government placed far more emphasis on peripheral issues such as terrorism and the establishment of a regional legal body instead of national employment, growth, and development.
