THE MINISTRY of Labour has scheduled a meeting with the management of West Indies Alumina Company (Windalco) and the National Workers Union (NWU) for next Tuesday.
Confirmation of the meeting came even as the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was issuing a call for the intervention of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) to help resolve what has become an acrimonious dispute.
The meeting will take place at the Labour Ministry's North Street office in Kingston to facilitate continued negotiations towards a new collective labour agreement between the company and workers represented by
the NWU.
COLLAPSE IN NEGOTIATIONS
This intervention follows the collapse in negotiations between the Windalco management and Norman DaCosta, vice-president of the NWU, who is the union's chief bauxite sector negotiator. Earlier this week the company accused Mr. DaCosta of "exposing" his gun and otherwise intimidating its officers during a meeting and vowed not to attend any future one-on-one meeting with him.
Mr. DaCosta has strongly denied the accusation and is threatening legal action to clear his name.
A source at the Labour Ministry confirmed that Tuesday's meeting would be attended by Clive Dobson, president of the NWU.
This, according to Kayon Headley, Windalco's commun-ications officer, meets the demand of the company for its participation in further meetings with the union.
JCTU President Dwight Nelson is, however, not satisfied with this timetable.
"I really think it is a matter of urgency and Tuesday seems a little far to me," he told The Gleaner yesterday. "In fact, I think that the parties should be around the conciliation table even as we speak."
RELATIONSHIP DETERIORATED
Mr. Nelson's concern mirrors that of Opposition Leader Bruce Golding who, in a press release, suggested yesterday that the relationship between the management and the union had deteriorated "beyond disagreement on substantive issues into personal recrimination
and betrayal".
Mr. Golding said this was not in the best interest of either the workers or the company "and could damage the bauxite and alumina industry".
Accordingly, Mr. Golding has called for the intervention of
the JCTU.
Senator Nelson is willing to intervene in the dispute, in light of the gravity of the situation.
"Given the fact that the JCTU has, as one of its main functions, the maintenance of harmonious relations in critical industries including bauxite, which are critical and vital to the economy, so certainly I will be making contact with the parties involved to see whether my intervention can help to restore some semblance of normality."
