Audley Shaw, Minister of Finance and the Public Service. - File

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, has categorically denied the claim by Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) president, Edith Allwood-Anderson, that a new JLP administration had pledged to double nurses salaries immediately after it took office.

In a Gleaner interview yesterday, Mr. Shaw said he made "no such promise" to the NAJ.

However, Mr. Shaw said that nurses were grossly underpaid for many years and his administration was looking forward to the day when "we will double the pay of nurses".

Not at this time

He made it clear that the Government would not be able to double nurses pay at this time.

"They deserve even more than a doubling of salary," Mr. Shaw said, but suggested that this kind of pay increase could only be granted when the economy started experiencing significant growth.

Mrs. Allwood-Anderson told a Gleaner Editors' Forum on Tuesday that the NAJ would be holding Mr. Shaw to his promise (while in Opposition) of doubling the pay of nurses after the JLP formed the Government.

She said Mr. Shaw's commitment was recorded on DVD at a Founder's Day function on July 19, 2006.

The NAJ is preparing to meet with the Government to hammer out a new wage and fringe benefits package, which takes effect on April 1, 2008.