Nurses retain lawyer for reclassification battle
Published:Monday | October 26, 2009 | 5:47 PM
The Nurses’ Association of Jamaica, NAJ, has retained high-profile lawyer Dr Lloyd Barnett for its reclassification battle with the Government.
NAJ president, Edith Allwood Anderson, says Dr Barnett was retained after the Industrial Dispute Tribunal, IDT, wrote to the association on the matter.
Mrs Allwood Anderson says in a letter dated October 21, the IDT requested the NAJ to submit within nine days, six copies of a brief, outlining its position.
The NAJ head says the brief will help the IDT to determine and settle the dispute between the Ministries of Health and Finance, the University Hospital of the West Indies and the NAJ.
The NAJ and the Government have been at odds over the implementation of the reclassification, which should have been put in place since July 2007.
The delay of the Government to implement the reclassification has angered the NAJ, prompting some nurses to stage demonstrations.
Recently, the ministry of health had to activate its contingency measures, as several nurses did not turn up for duties at some hospitals for over two days.
The Health Minister, Rudyard Spencer, then asked the labour ministry to intervene.
When the labour ministry was unable to reach a settlement with the NAJ, the matter was referred to the IDT.