The CEO of National Fuels and Lubricants (NFL) Roy d'Cambre, third left, shakes hands with National Workers Union (NWU) island supervisor, Vincent Morrison, after they signed an agreement covering benefits for the Jamaican-owned petrol distributor's service station workers. Seated from left are Granville Valentine, NWU officer, Dawkins Brown, financial controller NFL, and worker delegates Christine Dawkins and Ann Marie Bentley. - Junior DowieNATIONAL FUELS and Lubricants Limited and the National Workers Union (NWU) have signed a two-year contract covering about 200 unionised petrol service station attendants.
The contract, signed last Wednesday, grants the workers a 23 per cent pay increase over two years and will include double time for working on Sundays. It is likely to set the pace for industry-wide negotiations taking place between the NWU and the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA).
Other benefits agreed to by the parties include double time pay on public holidays; proper security at all service stations; four sets of uniforms per annum plus safety gear; a comprehensive training programme; a group health plan, to which the employer will contribute 65 per cent; life insurance coverage; laundry allowance of $640 per month in year one and increased to $650 per month in year two; shift premium for working between midnight and 6:00 a.m.; as well as improvements in vacation leave.
CEO of the company, Roylton d'Cambre, announced at the signing that the company would be expanding to cover 17 service stations by the end of February.
NFL came into being in 1991 promising to cut margins to gas stations, provide cheaper petroleum products to motorists and give the health sector a break. It came about as a result of the deregulation of the petroleum trade that took effect in 1990, when price controls were removed from gasolene and other fuels.
NWU island supervisor Vincent Morrison said the unions and the workers were happy with the agreement.
He noted that one of the current items of dispute with the JGRA, was the union's demand that the minimum rate of pay for attendants be increased to $3,000 per week. This was met by NFL and "I don't see us signing an agreement for anything less than this," Mr. Morrison said.
He paid tribute to NFL for its co-operation and urged the workers to carry out "best practices" on the job. He was assisted in the negotiations by Granville Valentine.
Mr. d'Cambre told the delegates that they should remember that fuel was a very competitive industry with diminishing margins and that the money to pay their salaries will have to come from money earned at the pumps: "A little good morning and thank you goes a long way in this business," he said.
