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The Government is urging more public servants to accept the current salary and benefits offer agreed to yesterday by 11 major trade unions and clear the way for talks on the more fundamental compensation review benefits.Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke said yesterday that the current four per cent wage offer is really a bridge, or holding agreement, pending which the Government aims to fulfil its commitment to implement a long-awaited compensation review, which has been completed but is still awaiting discussions with the workers' bodies.Dr Clarke told a press briefing at his ministry at Heroes' Circle, Kingston, that it is necessary to start making payments to the workers as soon as possible. But, in order to do so, he said the Government must complete the process of fulfilling the offers included in a package for a one-year holding or "bridge" agreement which will eventually lead to implementing the proposals in the review starting in April 2022.He said that yesterday's sign-off on the current holding offers, which also includes a one-off payment of $40,000 to those who are earning $1.5 million and less, as well as an assurance to pay the retroactive amounts dating back to April 1, 2021, is the first towards meeting the obligation."It is a significant milestone. I also see it as a bridge for more fundamental changes to come, beginning in the next fiscal year, but conditional on being able to reach agreement with all bargaining units in respect of this year, so that we are in a position to implement the strategic reforms that we have committed to doing," Dr Clarke told the briefing, which preceded the signing of the agreement by the 11 Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) members.Dr Clarke said that membership of these unions amounts to approximately 50 per cent of all public sector workers and, therefore, it is critical for the other bargaining units to sign off on the agreement and allow for the start of the discussions on the review.He indicated that the review had detected "inequities in the system", both "horizontally and vertically", as well as lack of transparency in how it works, "and a public sector compensation system that actually works against the interest of the public sector employees".He said that the Government was interested in working towards the implementation of a system that works for these workers, and which can be implemented starting next April."I want to use this opportunity to re-issue the invitation to all other bargaining groups, that the Government of Jamaica is ready to make the payments in respect of this year December, if we can reach agreement with the remaining groups," he said."It is important for us to achieve our goal to begin the implementation of the compensation review in April. If we carry over payments that are for this year into the next fiscal year, it will compromise the Government's ability to begin the implementation of the compensation review," Clarke warned.He urged the institutions representing the remainder of the public servants to "fast-track" the completion of the negotiations for this year, "in light of the debilitating impact of the pandemic on Government revenues". He said that this was necessary "so that we can be in a position to make the deeper, more fundamental and structural changes that will improve the experience of working in the public sector, beginning April 1, 2022".President of the JCTU Helen Davis Whyte said she welcomed the minister's efforts to ensure that discussions on the review can commence as quickly as possible."This is not the usual agreement, because we are actually signing a one-year agreement. We in the confederation refer to it as a holding agreement, meaning that it is something that is meant to tide us over until we get to what we hope and expect are going to be bigger and better things, in terms the negotiations with the Government," she said.Davis Whyte said she accepted that the ministry is facing negotiating within the context of a pandemic, but the process has produced "something that we can live with as partners for a particular period of time".The 11 unions signing the heads of agreement were: Bustamante Industrial Trade Union; Jamaica Civil Service Association; National Workers' Union; University and Allied Workers Union; Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers; Union of Technical, Administrative, and Supervisory Personnel; Trade Union Congress; Jamaica Union of Public Officers and Public Employees; Jamaica Workers' Union; United Union of Jamaica; and the Union of Schools, Agricultural, and Allied Workers.The ministry has not yet completed negotiations with sectoral bodies like the Jamaica Teachers' Association, Nurses Association of Jamaica, nor the Jamaica Police Federation, all of which are insisting that there are still outstanding issues to be resolved.