Civil servants bracing for toll rate increase

The Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) has joined the list of groups strongly voicing their protest against the pending toll rate increases on Highway 2000.     
   
The Association is expecting that its members will be hit hard, and that the benefits they will have gained from the government's new tax package will now be eroded.
   
Oneil Grant, JCSA President, told RJR News that there has been a series of  increases which have been affecting his members, and this is just the latest.

"It's already being eroded," he said, pointing particularly to rising fuel and electricity costs as prime examples of the factors driving the increased cost of living.

There was also likely to be an increase in water rates and the price of a range of food products, he added.

"One company increased the price of its product since the gas tax increase was announced, and we will, I think, continue to see more of those increases," he said.

Expressing doubt about the government's latest inflation projection, Mr. Grant said when the next statistical bulletin is published "we are going to see that there will be a spike in inflation."

These increases will be taken into consideration in the JCSA's approach to negotiating with the government for the next salary package, he asserted.