- FilePart of the site of the gold mine in Pennants, Clarendon.
THE MINISTRY of Labour and Social Security has offered the management of Ausjam Mining Limited and the United Union of Jamaica (UUJ), the opportunity to mutually agree on referring their dispute over dismissals to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT).
The offer was made at a meeting at the Ministry on Thursday. The request for the referral was made by the UUJ. If both sides agree to a joint request, the matter would automatically be sent to the IDT without the intervention of the Minister. The company is expected to respond by Monday.
Ausjam, based in Pennants, Clarendon, dismissed more than half its staff recently, after stating that it had identified areas of operational deficiency, including the workforce.
Ausjam has been mining gold at Pennants since May 2001. The UUJ won bargaining rights on behalf of the production staff via a poll conducted by the Ministry in September last year. The union has since made demands on the company for improvements in the pay and working conditions of the workers.
