标签： Jamaica

Amid circulating social media speculation of an imminent taxi fare protest set to launch Monday morning, the top leader of Jamaica’s St James Taxi Association has pushed back against the claims, labeling the viral announcement as premature and uncoordinated.

Dion Chance, president of the local association, told local media outlet Observer Online that the unapproved strike notice originated from an individual based in the southern parish of St Elizabeth, not from authorized industry leadership in St James. As of Sunday, the Jamaica Constabulary Force had issued an internal advisory to its personnel alerting them to potential disruptions tied to the rumored strike, which was framed as a push for increased taxi fares.

Contrary to the viral warning, public transit operations across St James continued to run normally on Monday with no work stoppages reported. Chance emphasized that organized industry action does not happen spontaneously. Any official strike would require advance notification to all association members, exhaustive exploration of all negotiation channels with relevant stakeholders, and deliberate planning to ensure any protest is effective. “Our members know full well that they would receive formal, advance communication before any industrial action. We do not just call a strike overnight,” he explained.

Chance confirmed that industry leaders are already in the process of addressing fare increase demands, with a scheduled meeting of all taxi association presidents from across Jamaica set for Thursday this week. This gathering follows an initial meeting held last week to discuss the issue. Following Thursday’s discussions, leadership will finalize a formal plan of action based on the meeting’s outcomes, Chance added.

On May 16, 2026, at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Falmouth, Trelawny, a new chapter began for the North Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (NJC). During the inauguration ceremony for the organization’s newly elected officers, directors, and executive committee members, newly sworn-in president Pastor Jermaine Johnson delivered a bold, mission-driven address challenging the conference’s congregations to step beyond traditional religious boundaries and pursue widespread transformational change across Jamaican society.

Known affectionately to his peers and followers as Pastor JJ, Johnson brings a wealth of cross-sector leadership and public service experience to his new role. A native of Port Antonio, Johnson is an established motivational speaker, personal and professional development strategist, and justice of the peace for St Ann parish. He built his early foundation as a student at Titchfield High School, before going on to earn his degree from Northern Caribbean University. His long record of public engagement includes leading the National Youth Council of Jamaica, serving as an ambassador for the National Youth Service, and representing Jamaica at the Commonwealth Youth Parliament in Australia. A nationally celebrated communicator, Johnson is an award-winning toastmaster, recognized across the Caribbean for his dynamic oratory and leadership. He also composed the theme song for the Governor General’s I Believe initiative, and in 2023, he received the prestigious Governor General’s Gold Medal of Honour for his decades of work advancing social progress across the country. Johnson has also shared his leadership and faith frameworks through two published works: *The Seven Ps to Effective Church* and *Don’t Chicken Out*.

In his inauguration address, Johnson emphasized that the event marked more than just a change in organizational leadership: it was a collective recommitment to the conference’s core mission. “If we are to achieve maximum impact for the Kingdom of God we must become intentional about engaging people everywhere they are — not for prestige, not for political advantage, but for transformational influence,” Johnson told attendees.

He pushed back against the idea that the church’s role is only to maintain long-held traditions, arguing instead that the NJC has a duty to shape broader community life. “The NJC has not been called merely to preserve tradition, we have been called to transform communities, disciple nations, uplift families, engage institutions, and proclaim the everlasting gospel with urgency, fervency, and emergency,” Johnson said.

Johnson outlined a radical expansion of what counts as the church’s mission field, rejecting the idea that faith work is confined to church buildings. “The time has come for us to think bigger, pray deeper, work smarter, and move boldly. The mission field before us is no longer confined to the four walls of the church. Our mission field is Parliament, the hospital, boardrooms, police stations, universities, the media landscape, the digital space, and every sphere where people seek hope, integrity, purpose, and truth,” he explained.

Drawing inspiration from a quote by Seventh-day Adventist World Church President Pastor Erton Kohler, which states “A hopeless world is in desperate need of a hopeful church,” Johnson rooted his call for engagement in the example of Jesus Christ. “The church must not isolate itself from society while expecting to influence society, for we cannot impact that with which we are out of touch,” Johnson said. “Jesus did not merely preach in synagogues; He walked among the people; He entered cities; He engaged leaders; He transformed culture through compassion, truth, and service. We must let the world know that except God is placed in His rightful place, which is first place, things will always be displaced in this place.”

Johnson was first elected to the NJC presidency during the conference’s Fourth Quadrennial Session, held April 20–21, 2026. He will lead the 85-congregation conference alongside Executive Secretary Pastor Carlington Hylton and Treasurer Pastor Onyeka Nevins. Covering the parishes of St Ann and Trelawny, the NJC currently counts more than 22,936 registered members across its faith communities.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — A brewing labor dispute at one of Jamaica’s most influential education sector organizations has boiled over into industrial action, as non-teaching staff employed by the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) have walked off the job to demand resolution to years of unpaid and improperly calculated wages. The workers, who include security guards, administrative support staff, accounting personnel, and clerical officers, are all represented by the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), one of the country’s oldest and most prominent labor organizations.

Rudolph Thomas, BITU’s vice president, outlined the origins of the conflict that led to the work stoppage: since 2017, JTA management has failed to provide transparent breakdowns of how incremental and seniority-based salary increases are calculated for the represented staff. Union representatives have repeatedly flagged clear discrepancies in the amounts paid to workers over the seven-year period, but formal requests for clarification have gone unanswered.

The situation escalated beyond the long-running calculation dispute in recent months, Thomas explained. In a public statement released Monday, BITU detailed three additional core grievances that pushed workers to take industrial action. First, JTA management has failed to conclude new collective bargaining negotiations for wage and fringe benefits covering the 2024–2026 period, despite the previous agreement having already expired. Second, a long-planned market wage realignment initiative scheduled to take effect this year has been stalled by repeated management delays in engaging with union negotiators. Third, multiple written commitments to resolve the dispute made by JTA leadership during mediated talks at the Jamaican Ministry of Labour have been broken with no forward movement.

For the affected workers, these repeated failures by JTA management have created widespread financial uncertainty and deep frustration. The union emphasizes that management’s inaction not only violates existing collective agreements between the two parties, but also amounts to a deliberate refusal to pay the fair wages that JTA staff have rightfully earned through their work.

Thomas issued a clear warning to JTA leadership on Monday: if management does not immediately agree to a formal meeting with union representatives and establish binding, firm timelines to address every outstanding issue, the current industrial action will be scaled up to intensify pressure on the organization. With multiple previous commitments already broken, the union has signaled it will not accept further delays in resolving the nearly decade-long dispute.