Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
THE PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) Dwight Nelson has called an emergency meeting of member unions for tomorrow citing continuing dissatisfaction among JCTU members ahead of today's scheduled signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government.
In a statement released yesterday, Mr. Nelson said some major unions, "notably the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) and the National Workers' Union (NWU) and the Union of Schools' Agricultural and Allied Workers" had indicated to him that they were not satisfied with the final draft of the agreement.
"I have no alternative therefore but to call an emergency meeting of all union leaders for Tuesday, May 30 pursuant to allowing these leaders to air their dissatisfaction and agree on a new date for signing the MoU," the statement read.
But speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Lambert Brown, president of the University and Allied Workers' Union (UAWU) defended the final draft of the MoU and said he was surprised by the last-minute call for a postponement.
"We are satisfied with the MoU and have no problem with signing at any time. We would have preferred if the signing went ahead as planned (today) so that the workers could get their long- awaited salary increase in June," he said.
SURPRISED
"I am surprised that this has come up, because the document has been in circulation since March. Any changes made to it would have been miniscule and would not have warranted a postponement," Mr. Brown added.
When contacted yesterday, Mr. Nelson refused to comment on the points of the MoU that had raised concern among some trade unions. He said, however, that although he would not call the concerns insignificant, he did not think they would cause the signing to be delayed for a significant period.
