KINGSTON, Jamaica – Cabinet has given the approval for the creation of 3,813 permanent posts at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), in the next financial year.

Finance and Public Service Minister, Dr Nigel Clarke, made the announcement on Tuesday as he closed the 2024/25 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives.

He said this was part of the Government’s plan to address the decades-old issue of contract work which leaves many Jamaicans without benefits, including no pension.

Clarke said the employees are spread across the entire NSWMSA and includes those from its subsidiaries, the MPM Waste Management Authority, NEMPM Waste Management Authority, SPM Waste Management Authority and the WPM Waste Management Authority.

Clarke told the House that currently, there are only 269 posts at the NSWMA.

“Everybody else is on contract; sanitation workers, truck drivers, route supervisors, enforcement officers, mechanics, all of the working people in the NSWMA and its subsidiaries for the past 30 years approximately were on contract,” he said.

“But under this government, the permanent posts have been created and in the upcoming fiscal year we will make workers in the NSWMA and their subsidiaries permanent. Time come for permanent employment,” the finance minister added to sustained desk banging from Government Members of Parliament.