Jamaican Police.Com

Speaking yesterday during a post-Cabinet meeting at Jamaica House, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said it is unfair and unreasonable for the police and teachers to be clamoring for salary increases, when both groups benefited from what he said were “significant” top-ups in the almost two years that his administration has been in office.

Prime Minister Golding specifically said “I would suggest that some account be taken of the significant improvement in police salaries since this administration came to office … I will say to you, for example, that there are senior police officers, and I am not referring to expatriate police officers, whose salaries exceed those of my ministers.” Prime Minister Golding however stopped short of saying that the police and teachers were being greedy.

He added also that those civil service groups who are demanding their money, are showing a lack of understanding or regard for the state of the economy and the additional hardship their stance might impose on the poor.

The matter of police salaries has been a sore point for the Government and the police, as the Government has reneged on a 7% salary increase agreement (saying it simply doesn’t have the money) that should have come into effect for the police on April 1 of this year, and the police have been vociferous with their demands for the Government to honor this agreement.

Tags : audley shaw, Bruce Golding, Police Salaries, Police Wages