A day after Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged workers and their unions to be reasonable as they press for better wages, another public sector grouping has taken industrial action.
Dozens of disgruntled workers employed by the National Housing Trust (NHT) walked off the job this morning.
The non-management workers staged the protest at the agency’s headquarters in New Kingston. Some workers have also gathered outside other offices including in Ocho Rios and Montego Bay.
Third Vice President of the University and Allied Workers’ Union (UAWU), Garfield Harvey, says the workers are upset about how salary negotiations with the ministry of finance are progressing
He adds that close to 800 workers have taken action.
Meantime, President of the National Housing Trust Staff Association, Shana White says the workers are concerned about the implementation of a job evaluation exercise, which she says is past due.
Ms. White says, the report from the exercise was completed last year, but workers have not received any communication as to when the results will be implemented.
Noting that the job evaluation exercise has been on the table since 2016, Ms. White notes that workers are frustrated, as the workers feel, that they have been left behind.
She was among NHT workers protesting at Emancipation Park across from the NHT office in New Kingston.
The placard bearing workers dressed in black are chanting “we want more money” among other things