Parliament approves public sector job cuts

The parliament has given its approval for the cutting of 3,000 positions from the public sector.

Yesterday, minister without portfolio in the ministry of finance with responsibility for the public service, Horace Dalley asked the parliament to amend the Civil Service Establishment Order to facilitate the cuts.

However, the cuts will not result in job losses for civil servants.

Dalley said the exercise by the government would result in the elimination of certain vacant posts, which are no longer needed or have been duplicated within various ministries.

However, the North Central St. Andrew Member of Parliament, Karl Samuda, was not convinced the government would achieve its objective of creating a leaner public service, as he said several of the posts were being transferred to elsewhere in the service.

Dalley explained that it was not a matter of transferring posts, but eliminating instances in which certain positions exist in two agencies of the same ministry.

Most of the cuts come from the health ministry, where more than 1,000 are being eliminated.

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