Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter
AFTER DRIVING to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to help with wage negotiations last week, a Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd. (JPS) union delegate, Reginald Johnson, was forced to leave empty handed when his car was stolen.
The meeting was held with the Labour Ministry, the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), and JPS union delegates.
According to the Clarendon-based union delegate, he was attending the meeting at the Ministry's Heroes Circle office on April 3 when, at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, he returned from lunch to find his 1997 Mitsubishi Challenger missing.
"I conducted a spot check at 2:00 pm (and) on my way to lunch at 3:00 p.m. my car was still there. When I got back, it was missing," Mr. Johnson said. He argued that security personnel on the premises were unable to explain the circumstances under which his vehicle left the parking lot.
The outraged delegate insisted that this was not the first incident in which a car was stolen from the ministry's parking lot.
DENIAL
However, Faith Innerarity, chief technical director at the Labour Ministry, while admitting to being aware of the incident relating to the union delegate's vehicle, has denied knowing of other thefts from the ministry's parking lot.
"We are aware of the incident that occurred on that particular day, it has been referred to the police and in the meanwhile we are strengthening our security at the ministry," she said. "We are sorry about the incident, but the kind of country in which we live, these are things that unfortunately do happen. We are very sorry that someone that came to our ministry had that encounter."
When The Gleaner contacted the Central Police Station, police personnel confirmed reports of the theft, but were unable to say whether there were any leads in the case.
