PeartAFTER SIX hours of talks yesterday with representatives of West Indies Alumina Co. (Windalco), and the National Workers' Union at the Terra Nova Hotel, Waterloo Road, St. Andrew, Dean Peart, Minister of Labour and Social Security, failed to broker an agreement between the parties.
Peace at the two alumina refineries operated by Windalco has been threatened over the last four weeks by the failure of the management and the union to agree on several payment issues, the most serious being that of a Personal Income Protection (PIP) agreement which covers exchange rate fluctuations.
After the NWU issued a strike threat in late August, Mr. Peart took out an ex parte injunction in the Supreme Court against any industrial action within the next 30 days. This followed an order issued by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal that the threat of industrial action be withdrawn.
Under the PIP agreement, the bauxite-alumina companies pay the workers lump sums to make up for falls in the exchange rate between the Jamaican and US dollars. The company wants the agreement dropped from a new 33-month contract which was being negotiated at the Ministry of Labour. The union is insisting that the workers would come out of the talks worse off without the PIP.
The Gleaner understands that the minister is now looking at appointing an arbitration panel to look at the contentious issues.
