PSOJ, JMEA not against salary hike to MPS, but...

Council of Churches labels increases ungracious and inequitable

THE Private Sector Organisation Of Jamaica (PSOJ) and the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) say while they do not object to an increase in salaries to parliamentarians, in principle, the organisations believe that it should be in keeping with the country’s macroeconomic realities.

In addition, the groups said the new salaries should be accompanied by a transparent accountability system that will allow citizens to assess the performance of the political directorate.

“There has undoubtedly been a lack of communication with the public on the justification for these significant increases at a time when sections of our population suffer from the effects of high inflation and many years of low economic growth. The Government has a responsibility to demonstrate how the public sector compensation review process will positively impact our social and economic performance, given that these increases will bring the public sector salaries to nearly 12 per cent of GDP [gross domestic product], which is well above the target of nine per cent,” the groups said in a joint statement Thursday.

In the meantime, the Jamaica Council of Churches has called on the Government to reconsider its intentions and recast the salary packages for government officials, “which bears sensitivity to and solidarity with the conditions of ordinary Jamaicans and reflects equity in both quantitative and qualitative respects”.

Said the Church: “We have observed that there are imbalances between the salaries of high-ranking public servants and government officials and agree that this state of affairs is unacceptable. We are concerned that the apparent philosophical underpinning for the massive increases in the salaries of Governmental officials is the use of the principle of equality. We fear that the outcomes of such a pursuit would simply maintain the status quo and worsen the disparities which exist.

“When viewed against the background of the economic conditions of the average Jamaican, and especially the poor [salaries increases to parliamentarians] are ungracious and inequitable.”

The PSOJ and JMEA said they firmly believe implementing key performance indicators and job descriptions for all parliamentarians and ministers is crucial, noting that although this matter has been long discussed and promised, it must now be treated as a matter of urgency to ensure that officials are performing effectively and commensurate with the investment from the Jamaican public.