Heavy equipment operators, the ‘BarberGreene’ team and other staff of the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW) who are on the Murphy’s Pasture flood mitigation project, say they have been short-changed, and want answers.
After months of complaining about unexplained salary cuts, late pay slips, sporadic overtime and allowance payments, several workers vented their frustrations on the MTW compound in the Pine on Monday.
The men made it clear that they did not walk off the job, but were adamant that they had been waiting too long for their issues to be rectified.
“When we were supposed to get the salary [increase] we didn’t get it at first so they had back pay us. But they turn around and cut it off, but nobody can tell us why they cut it off. We went to accounts and nobody is able to tell us why are our salary is being cut. They just tell us Personnel Administration Department (PAD) is who took off the salary. . . but if PAD cut our salary, personnel need to tell us why PAD cut our salary,” operator Julian Gibson said.
They estimated that about 21 heavy equipment operators, 12 section leaders as well as the workers at Murphy’s Pasture in Chapman Lane were affected.
Gibson said their mounting overtime hours, some of which were done under hazardous conditions, compounded the issues.
“Some workers have 400 hours in overtime, some have less than that but nobody can tell you when we will get overtime. The Agricultural workers now get a supplementary vote for overtime, the ash workers were working but they want to get them supplementary for payment. We worked already but still no money.
“If you have grievances, you can’t be in St Andrew working with big heavy equipment because the next thing you hear is that you down in a gully. You shouldn’t be working in these conditions; we need to know where we stand,” he added.
As the group spoke to the media, a woman who was only identified as the principal personnel officer, told the men they had to follow the protocols and took note of their concerns before returning to the office.
The men also returned to their posts. (TG)
