Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter

Industrial action, taken by workers at the Jamaica Railway Corporation affected production at the West Indies Alumina Company (Windalco) plants at Ewarton in St. Catherine and Kirkvine in Manchester, yesterday.

Some 30 workers including gatekeepers and train controllers called in sick forcing trains running from the plants to Port Esquivel in St. Catherine to leave the tracks.

"Typically, we need two trains per day to each plant to keep the plants running and since the last trains this (yesterday) morning, we have not been able to get out anymore trains," said Mike Douglas, business development director at Windalco.

Unable to move alumina

Mr. Douglas said the company was unable to move the alumina and raw materials, including oil and caustic soda from Kirkvine and Ewarton to Port Esquivel.

"So, if the problem is not resolved pretty quickly, both plants will basically grind to a halt and I would say probably 24 hours or so before we feel the full effect."

The workers, who are represented by the University and Allied Workers' Union (UAWU) and the Union of School's Agriculturaland Allied Workers (USAW), are demanding an improvement in their salary package.

Garfield Harvey, third vice-president of the UAWU, told The Gleaner that the workers had submitted their wage claims to the Government in December last year but are yet to receive a response.

He said many of the workers were being paid minimal salaries and are without health benefits.

"There are people at the JRC who are being paid $7,000 per fortnight and these are people who do not get overtime pay, they don't get holiday with pay," he stressed.

Late yesterday, the Ministry of Labour issued a release to say that the wage dispute had been referred to the ministry for conciliatory talks involving representatives of the UAWU, USAW, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Transport and Works.