KINGSTON, Jamaica, Monday May 16, 2011 – More details of the proposed restructuring of the public sector, including the layoff of 10,000 workers, should be disclosed this week.
Minister with responsibility for Information, Telecommunications and Special Projects, Daryl Vaz, said that the Public Sector Transformation Unit (PSTU), which is spearheading the process, is expected to address the schedule for implementation by early in the week.
During his 2011/12 Budget Debate presentation in Parliament last Tuesday, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, announced the PSTU’s proposal to reduce public sector employment from 118,163 to between 108,000 and 109,000, over a five-year period.
Vaz said that the start of the exercise, expected to save Government J$40 billion (US$472.5 million) - J$50 billion (US$590.6 million) annually, should commence this month, with the next 24 months targeted for major modifications to the sector.
He said while decisions on changes within ministries, departments and agencies would be matters for Permanent Secretaries and other public service technocrats to decide, the PSTU will remain as the oversight body to ensure that the recommendations are implemented, as agreed.
“The implementation will be done though the ministries and agencies, in conjunction and in consultation with the PSTU,” he explained.
Stressing that “proper treatment” of public sector employees was a Government priority, Vaz underscored the importance of the communication and consultative process in the undertaking
“The PSTU will continue, through consultations and collaborations, to engage public sector workers and unions to discuss various aspects of the modernization, and approaches to be adopted for implementation,” he said.
Noting that restructuring of the public sector was one of the planks for the successful negotiating of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Stand-By Agreement, Vaz said the tabling of the Ministry Paper and moves to implement the recommendations, were indications of the seriousness of the Government in putting in place the necessary reforms in the public sector to allow the economy to grow.
He said the PSTU will remain in place during implementation of the recommendations, which he described as a “very critical part” of the process.
“It is the implementation which is the practical part, which is where the challenges will come, if they are to come,” the Information Minister said.
Meantime, trade unions representing public sector employees have indicated their willingness to co-operate with the PSTU in executing the proposed restructuring exercise to be undertaken in the sector.
Vice-President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), Helene Davis-Whyte, who is also General Secretary of the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers (JALGO), said that the trade unions will continue to work with the Government in carrying out the rationalisation process.
"What we have in fact been advised is that the process of consultation and involvement of the unions will continue, and so the question of who is to go would flow from the finalisation of the work on the ground, in terms of the structures, and we are comfortable with that," she said.
"What we want to be clear is that it is a consultative process, and that the workers are involved at every step of the game. We have confidence in the workforce, and it has been represented to us by members of the individual unions, as well, that they are also interested in ensuring that there is a modern, efficient public sector in place," she added.
Davis-Whyte said that the unions would also seek to ensure that inter-disciplinary transformation teams established in each agency, ministry and department to see that the process, "really gets on the ground, begin the work and ensure that the staff is consulted, right across the length and breadth of Jamaica."
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