JPSCo strike deadline at noon
published: Tuesday | November 26, 2002
Clive Dobson (left), president of the NWU, talking to JPSCo worker delegates after last night's meeting with the management at the company's head office, Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston. At right is BITU senior negotiating officer, Wesley Nelson. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
THE TRADE unions representing workers at the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) have agreed to extend their strike ultimatum to noon today, while the company reconsiders its positions on two issues in dispute.
This was the outcome of a two-hour meeting last night at the JPSCo's New Kingston head office. The meeting was called in a bid to head off a strike threatened by the unions following the expiration of a 72-hour ultimatum at 3 p.m. yesterday. The unions warned that if the matter is not resolved by noon today, they would call an emergency meeting with their delegates to discuss action.
A conciliatory meeting, which had been called by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, fell through yesterday morning, after the unions refused to attend on the basis that the matter was still at the local level.
The unions are seeking the implementation of pay increases arising from a recently concluded job evaluation by Christmas and retroactive to January, 2001. The company says that it is willing to implement the increases by Christmas, but effective from January, 2002. The other bone of contention is the company's decision to benchmark appropriate companies and seek to offer compensation and benefits to the workers which are 50 per cent of the market range.
The four unions involved in yesterday's talks were the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), the National Workers' Union (NWU), the Union of Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (UTASP) and the JPS Management Association.
