Strike at power company - Some North American Energy Services workers protest wage offer SOME CATEGORIES of unionised employees at the North American Energy Services (Jamaica) Limited (Dr. Bird) plant in Old Harbour went on strike yesterday morning, but their protest is unlikely to affect normal power generation. Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) corporate communications manager, Winsome Callum, told The Gleaner yesterday that there was no threat to the company's power supply, as managers at the plant were keeping the private power service going. North America Energy Services is regarded as the more efficient of the two private plants which sell power to the JPSCo. The company normally provides an additional 74 megawatts to the national grid, but this had been reduced to 55 megawatts recently, due to maintenance work at the plant. The other is the Jamaica Private Power Company Limited at Rockfort, Kingston. The strike at Old Harbour was triggered by a dispute between about seven middle-level employees of the company, represented by the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisor Employees (UCASE), an affiliate of the National Workers' Union (NWU). The employees are protesting against the offer of 6 per cent and 5 per cent over two years from the management in their current wage negotiations. The union want the pay increase to be tagged to inflation movements over the past four years. NWU senior negotiation officer and spokesman for the group, Granville Valentine, says that the workers have been singled out for unfair treatment because of their membership of the union while being in mid-level positions. He said that they were not given any increases over the past four years, unlike other groups. There are some 77 workers at the plant, including a bargaining unit represented by the NWU. The Gleaner checked with the company but was told that management officers were not available to comment. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security had scheduled a meeting for yesterday afternoon, in a bid to resolve the dispute, but the union was unable to attend. The meeting has been rescheduled for this morning at 10.
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