NWC, unions iron out five-point agreement
Published:Wednesday | July 19, 2023 | 12:07 AMErica Virtue/Senior Gleaner Writer
Days of deliberations between the five unions representing workers at the state-operated National Water Commission (NWC) and management have borne fruit with an agreement yesterday that has ended the threat of industrial action which could have left stakeholders feeling the heat.
Yesterday’s five-point agreement restored parity with workers and their employer and customers should be able to sigh in relief. A copy of the agreement seen by T he Gleaner showed the points on which agreement was reached.
In the first point of the agreement, the parties have accepted that: “Employees will be converted in the new compensation review on the following conversion points; points one to two in the old scale go to point one in the new scale; points three to four in the old scale go to point two in the new scale; and point five, and first and second seniority in the old scale go to point three in the new scale. Third seniority in the old scale goes to point four in the new scale.”
The second point on which agreement was reached was the starting point for the bands in 2024.
The starting point of band one, at year three (April 1, 2024) is $1,358,380; and band two, at year three (April 1, 2024) is $1,628,612.
The parties also agreed that the “the policy regarding increment will be revised such that increments are paid annually, and shall be based on a revised performance management and appraisal system”.
The NWC will adopt the $100km mileage rate payable across the public sector upon implementation of the revised salary.
The final point of agreement is, “where an officer falls below the 30 per cent level of net salary increase over the three-year implementation period the officer will be converted at a higher point in respective band as is necessary”.
The agreement does not constitute a change in the agreed conversion principle mentioned at item one.
REPRESENTATION
The more than 2,000 NWC workers are represented by the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers; the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union; the National Workers’ Union; the Union of Public and Private Employee and the NWC Executive Staff Association.
Signing on behalf of the Government was Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr, while the NWC was represented by its president, Mark Barnett. Granville Valentine signed on behalf of the NWU, Helene Davis-Whyte on behalf of JALGO; Pamela Hall-Newland on behalf of the NWC Executive Staff Association (management group); Wesley Nelson, on behalf of the BITU and Fitzroy Bryan for the UPPE.
The unions two weeks ago served a 72-hours notice of strike action on the management that industrial action may be imminent following a breakdown of discussions between them and the management over reclassification and compensation exercise.
Workers were called to a meeting on Tuesday at the Ministry of Labour to discuss the concerns which threatened to cut the scheduled flow of the precious commodity in customers’ taps. They reconvened on Thursday and discussions continued well into the afternoon on Friday.
Among the concerns of the workers was that they had salary increases converted at a minimum of 20 to 25 per cent over three years without agreement with the unions, and how the conversation was done to align workers between levels one to level four. Also a 13-point scale that was imposed without discussion with unions from a five-point scale.
Last year’s strike action is reported to have cost the NWC $240 million as workers went on strike for two days, crippling business and public service activities.