Jamaica Gleaner

THIS DAY IN OUR PAST

The following events took place on June 16 in the years identified:

-

1980:The

new national minimum wage of $30 per 40 hour-work week comes into effect. This new wage, announced by Prime Minister Michael Manley in his 1980-81 Budget Speech to Parliament on May 22, was approved by the House of Representa­tives on Tuesday, June 10. The increased minimum wage will not affect workers under the Special Employment Programme. They will continue to receive the former minimum of $26.40. 1987:arrangemen­ts Strict security

are put in place for the printing of Common Entrance Examinatio­n papers by the Government Printing Office, Minister of the Public Service Clifton Stone, asssures the House of Representa­tives. Stone, who is speaking in the Sectoral Debate in the House, says that suggestion­s had been made which could implicate the printing office in “a rather sordid episode”. Minister of Education Neville Gallimore previously indicated the papers had been leaked from the Government Printing Office and “irregulari­ties” occurred in examinatio­n results, causing their nonpublica­tion to date. Close to 300 mem1999:bers

of the Jamaica Civil Service Associatio­n (JCSA) vote unanimousl­y to “shut down the civil service” on June 17 if more than 20 customs officers, who were either taken off duty but not dismissed, or controvers­ially transferre­d to other department­s up to nine years ago, are not reinstated in their original positions by today. A resolution passed by the civil servants also call for the immediate removal of Commission­er of Customs Allison Moore from her position, on the grounds that she has repeatedly defied lawful orders to reinstate the customs officers. The civil servants, who meet in an emergency session at their Jacisera Park headquarte­rs in St Andrew, are told that a number of the customs officers involved had been on full pay for up to four years without any charges being laid against them.

– The Gleaner Archives

Today’s Gem

“What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.” – Anthony Robbins

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