KINGSTON – A general strike now appears imminent, possibly for later this week, as trade unions increase pressure on the government to give public sector workers more pay.
The heads of Jamaica’s two largest and most powerful trade unions – the National Workers Union and the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union – admitted last Friday that the umbrella Joint Confederation of Trade Unions, to which both are affiliated, was fully behind a general strike.
The action is designed to send a message to the government that public sector workers must be paid increased wages, salaries and allowances, as agreed under the existing Memorandum of Understanding to which both parties are signatories.
However, the union heads declined to state the form that the strike would take, while disclosing that over 100 000 workers could be involved.
(Jamaica Observer)
