Workers affiliated with the National Housing Trust (NHT) have staged a protest following a wage dispute with the management of said organization.

Banners yielding “Wi hungry,” “We want justice” and “We want money” was just a hint of the rage felt by some of the workers who lambasted that they are treated unfairly by management.

In addition, the strike has been compounded by the management’s failure to carry out a reclassification exercise done some time ago.

This is the third strike by government workers since the beginning of this week. On Monday, scores of workers inclusive of management from the National Water Commission (NWC) staged a protest in light of the government’s recent compensation review programme proposals.

Banners yielding “we waan we money,” “No Money No Work” was just a hint of the rage felt by some of the workers who like the workers of the NHT complained that they are treated unfairly by the government.

As a result of said strike, imminent water lock offs affected the entire island for a period of over 12 hours.

President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, Helene Davis Whyte also indicated that the strike came as a result of a reclassification exercise that was agreed in 2008 and is yet to be implemented.

This reclassification as underscored by Davis Whyte was part of a restructuring exercise in the NWC as a prelude to the reclassification of jobs taking effect.

However, after the industrial action was taken, a consensus was reached between the NWC and the five unions representing the workers, following 16 hours of meetings.

The agreement cited that a consultant will be procured to conclude a job evaluation using the new public sector job evaluation tool and that the consultant conducting the public sector compensation restructuring will make the alignment to the new compensation structure public service.

• The exercise will consist of a steering committee involving each of the five unions at the NWC for further local communication and consultation

• The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service shall provide the final organizational structure of the NWC to the unions by the first meeting of the steering committee scheduled for Friday, May 20

• The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service will pro provide the report of the market survey that was conducted of private sector companies by May 20, 2022
• The proposal for the compensation restructure for the NWC will be conducted and finalized within three months from May 20, 2022. Thereafter the results of the exercise shall be implemented within three months
• There will be no victimization on either side arising from the industrial action

Yesterday, Air Traffic controllers at both the Norman Manley Airport in Kingston and Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James have indicated that services will be suspended today at 10:00 a.m.

This drastic measure comes after Air Traffic Controllers have been at odds with the Ministry of Finance for the last three months about an apparent fallout in salary negotiations.

As a result of this, the Air Traffic Controllers at the Sangster International Airport staged a two-day sick out to cite their disgust in the handling of affairs.

However after a brief sit down, President of the Air Traffic Controllers Association Kurt Solomon has confirmed that work will resume at the island’s airports after the country’s airspace was closed for hours, grounding several flights and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.