By Balford Henry, News EditorA CONFRONTATION is brewing between two leading trade unions over representation of the technical and supervisory staff at the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) and has raised concerns in labour circles.
The stand-off could affect the fragile industrial peace at the company, as well as revive the bitter traditional trade union rivalry which marked the 1960s and 1970s and which the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) is committed to ending.
The Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), an affiliate of the National Workers' Union (NWU), wrote the management of the JPSCo on January 20 suggesting that it be granted bargaining rights on behalf of the company's technical, administrative and supervisory staff, currently represented by the Union of Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (UTASP).
According to UCASE's general secretary, Senator Navel Clarke, the workers had joined his union. He wrote the company informing them of the "change" and seeking "recognition".
Senator Clarke indicated that in order to expedite the process, his union was willing to present proof of its membership, "which would allow for recognition without the taking of a poll". He suggested an early meeting with the management to formalise recognition at the local level.
But UTASP general secretary, Reg Ennis, warned that this could not be done under the labour laws, as only a representational rights poll could resolve the issue.
He conceded that there has been some opposition to him within the bargaining unit, after he instructed his members not to strike last December, when the company brought in 14 expatriates from the United States to work at Hunts Bay and Old Harbour. The expatriates were brought in by the company during a tense period of industrial relations triggered by a dispute over reclassification and salary increases.
"Some members thought otherwise, but I felt that it was unwise," Mr. Ennis said last Thursday. Ironically, UTASP was founded by the staff of the JPSCo, initially as an internal union, in 1974.
He said that he was going to write the JCTU, of which UTASP is a member, to bring to its attention a breach of its policy that member unions should not raid each other's membership.
JCTU vice-president, Senator Dwight Nelson, confirmed last Thursday that it was the policy of the JCTU that member unions should not raid each other. He also admitted that the labour laws require that when an incumbent union has been challenged, a representational rights poll is required, unless one union decides against a contest.
"Where there is an existing union, and another union is challenging its bargaining rights, the management has no legal authority nor is competent to grant bargaining rights to the challenging union under the law," Senator Nelson said last night.
This was supported by industrial relations expert and former Per-manent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Anthony Irons. Mr. Irons said that the challenging union is required to send a Form 2, under the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA) claiming bargaining rights, to the Ministry of Labour. This would be followed by a Form 1, which would include an audited list of its members within the bargaining unit it is seeking to represent.
The JPSCo management was not available to comment on the issue.
