JCTU: Government struggling to honour new wage agreement

More than a month after signing a new wage deal with the island's public sector employees, the government appears to be struggling to find the money to honour the agreement.

Vice President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), Helene Davis Whyte, told RJR News that the Confederation has not received any word from the Ministry of Finance whether the new increases will be paid in this month's salary. At this stage she said the Confederation has no confidence that it will be paid by the end of October.

Mrs Davis Whyte warns that public sector employees are becoming increasingly restive, "and quite militant" over the delay in the payment.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently reported that the new increases will cost the government an additional two billion dollars.

It said the government will be forced to cut some expenditures in order to honour the seven per cent wage agreement.