11 Celebrating 62 Years of Jamaica Love This engagement will involve, among other things, track reconstruction, acquisition of trains, and constructing necessary infrastructure along the route. The JRC also plans to kick-start preparations for the launch of passenger and freight train services between Spanish Town, St Catherine, and Kingston. Additionally, the company will finalise the roll-out of commercial rail service from Bodles Junction to Linstead in St Catherine, specifically for transporting aggregates. These activities form part of the JRC’s programmed continuation this year of strategies targeting the entity’s improved positioning to revitalise and expand rail service and optimise its financial performance. Details of these and other engagements are contained in the Jamaica Public Bodies of estimates and expenditure for the fiscal year ending 2024-25. The JRC is also expected to commence discussions with private investors to secure funding for building rail infrastructure, rehabilitating existing rolling stock, acquiring new trains, and upgrading the entity’s Kingston workshop. JTA sued for accepting Gov’t wage offer THE UNION representing teachers in Jamaica is now entangled in a lawsuit filed by a former president, who aims to nullify its current threeyear wage agreement with the Government, according to court documents. La Sonja Harrison, immediate past president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), contends in the lawsuit that the virtual special delegates’ vote – held in March last year – to accept the wage offer presented by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service was in breach of the JTA’s constitution. “Section 14 of the [JTA] constitution explicitly states that voting must be carried out by the assembly of delegates at a physical location and not virtually,”she asserted in an affidavit obtained by The Sunday Gleaner. According to the lawsuit, section 14 is similar to section 13, which deals with the holding of the union’s annual conference. “In both instances, the delegates can only vote with their physical presence by a show of hand or where secret ballots are permitted.” “The claimant, therefore, contends that the acceptance of the present salary package given to members of the JTA is void on the basis that the JTA was not properly constituted in carrying out the vote to accept the government’s offer,” Harrison argued. The virtual conference where delegates voted to accept the government’s wage offer was chaired by Harrison in her capacity as JTA president at the time, according to members of the executive. Munro mangled - Popular St Elizabeth boys’ school faces $310m preliminary recovery bill IT WILL take US$2 million (J$310 million) or more to get Munro College in Potsdam, St Elizabeth, back up and running following Hurricane Beryl’s destructive passage, which left 31 of the 35 buildings on the school’s compound mangled. The 168-year-old institution, often called ‘The City on a Hill’, buckled under the force of the monster storm when its outer bands battered Jamaica’s south coast last Wednesday. Several buildings, including the principal’s office, staff cottages and the sixth-form block, lost roofs, windows, or doors. At the same time, furniture, solar panels and sections of the tennis court’s fencing also suffered noticeable damage. A section of a perimeter wall to the back of the school also collapsed, along with it dozens of trees that lined one entrance to the school. “Of the 35 buildings, only four were not damaged. So you are talking about 31 buildings receiving from medium to significant damage,” Munro College Principal Mark Smith told The Gleaner on Monday. Smith, who lives on compound, described Beryl’s passage as a “horrifying” experience, recalling that at one point, his five-year-old son asked whether they were going to die. Smith said the howling winds and torrential downpour had made the boy anxious. Gov’t to fast-track repairs to damaged markets REPAIRS TO markets that sustained damage during the passage of Hurricane Beryl will be fast-tracked. The Falmouth, Mandeville, Lucea and Old Harbour markets in Trelawny, Manchester, Hanover and St Catherine, respectively, were significantly impacted by gale-force winds and torrential rains accompanying the category four cyclone. “The Government, earlier this year, had announced a $500-million programme for markets across the country. We will move that process forward and we will give priority to those markets that were affected by the hurricane,” Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, advised. He was addressing Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House. McKenzie also said infirmaries in Westmoreland, Trelawny, Hanover, St Ann and St Elizabeth were also affected. [NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED] A distressed Alethia Hylton is emotional as she stands infront of what is left of her house, after it was destroyed by a fallen coconut tree during Hurricane Beryl’s passage. PHOTO BY ASHLEY ANGUIN THE MONTHLY GLEANER | JULY 18 - AUGUST 17, 2024 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS
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