Lawyer Chris Orr, who represented the PSE, said the Minister of Public Service and Administration could make a salary decision in consultation with the Minister of Finance, but that does not necessarily require the approval of the Minister of Finance. In her remarks, Ms Davis Whyte said the provisions of the agreement represent “the best we could have achieved [COVID-19] under the circumstances”. Nehawu`s lawyer, Attorney William Mokhare, SC, told the judges that the agreement could not be considered separate from the Industrial Relations Act and the Constitution, otherwise the hearing would “continue to ask the wrong questions.” The counterparties discussed the mutual interpretation of Article 172 of the Constitution, which allows for the temporary suspension of a declaration of invalidity, and Article 23 of the Industrial Relations Act, which refers to fair labour practices. The government said that due to its wider budgetary constraints and the fact that the 2018 public pay contract pushed spending beyond the R110 billion spending framework, the deal had become unaffordable in its third year and should be considered invalid. As the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps across the country, every effort must be made to limit transmission. Workplace safety is paramount to ensuring the well-being of employees and their families, as well as the productivity of the company. To minimise the impact of the second wave on the workplace, public and private sector employers, in collaboration with trade unions, must take the initiative to work together to spread the “Safe back2work” message. JOHANNESBURG, 25. Aug (Reuters) – A collective agreement between the South African government and civil servants for the 2021-2022 financial year will cost about 20 billion rand ($1.34 billion), the Treasury said on Wednesday. Clarke stressed the need for the ministry to start reviewing compensation from early April 2022, saying the government would be limited in providing quality services to Jamaicans if the public sector was unable to retain talent due to its remuneration system. The unions that yesterday signed the collective agreement with the Ministry of Finance at its Offices in the National Heroes Circle are the BITU, the Jamaican Public Service Association, the National Union of Workers, the University and Allied Workers Union, the Trade Union Congress, the Jamaican Association of Local Civil Servants, the Jamaica Union of Public Servants and Employees, the United Union of Jamaica, the Jamaican Workers` Union, the Technical, Administrative, Managerial Staff Union and the Schools and Related Workers Union. The government and the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) have signed a new 12-month agreement on a four per cent wage increase for about 50,000 public sector workers for the period from April 2021 to March 2022.
The Ministry of Finance and the Civil Service and 11 members of the Joint Trade Union Confederation (JCTU) yesterday signed a one-year collective agreement on behalf of around 50,000 public sector workers. In addition, said lawyer Pedro van Wyk of the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw), there is concern that if the agreement is declared invalid, it could lead to a catastrophic situation in which the government “sues every civil servant” for the part of the agreement that the government has respected for the first two years. Dr Clarke and Ms Davis Whyte, who is also Secretary General of the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officials (JALGO), also thanked the Minister of State at the Treasury Department, the Honourable Marsha Smith, for her role in negotiating the agreement. Dr. Clarke noted that COVID-19 has led to late payments to government employees in several other countries, saying the government is “proud of the fact that we can actually give public sector workers an increase in pay in the midst of the pandemic.” He stressed that the government was prepared to make payments for this year to other public sector workers by December “if we can reach agreements with the other [collective bargaining] groups.” The agreement also provides for a one-time payment of $40,000 to public servants earning up to $1.5 million per year, and retroactive payments going back to April 1. t.co/tgR9Z5oB3U | If the government doesn`t have the means to stick to the agreement with the public sector, start negotiations, ConCourt told t.co/JuJVPrlH2k Gayle, that the one-year settlement is a temporary measure to reduce the economic burden on public sector workers. He noted that the process was looking at establishing appropriate scales and rates of pay and assessing roles in the public sector “so that it can develop a new type of compensation structure relevant to the value and value of public sector jobs.” The Ministry of Civil Service and Administration (DPSA) cannot argue that the civil service collective agreement it concluded with Labour in 2018 was illegal – given that it fulfilled the agreement for two of its three years – the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday. The Honourable Nigel Clarke, Minister of Finance and Public Services, and JCTU President Helene Davis Whyte signed the agreement at a brief ceremony at the ministry in Kingston on Friday (October 29). The government and public sector employees signed a one-year contract last month for a 1.5 percent wage increase plus a cash payment after several months of negotiations. He noted that this new “hold” agreement provides the “bridge” that will allow the government to work with the JCTU and other unions representing public sector workers who have not yet signed the document to begin implementing the compensation review. One of the things we have tried to do is to focus on people who are at the bottom of our pay scales in the public sector because of what we know they have experienced because of the decline in the economy. I think we agreed that even if they`re not happy, they feel comfortable,” she said.
He said this had led to a decline in revenue inflows and that the government was not in a position to begin implementing the proposed review of public sector compensation this year as originally planned. Judge Isaac Madondo had asked Van Wyk if he believed the entire agreement should be struck down if a clause was found to be illegal, and Van Wyk agreed. .