IDT makes ruling in wage dispute with bauxite company and union 

The Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT), in settling the wage dispute between UC Rusal Alumina Jamaica Limited and the Union of Clerical, Administrative & Supervisory employees, has increased the company's offer of five per cent to six per cent for the years November 2019 to November 2021.

The union was seeking, in addition to other benefits, a 12 per cent increase in wages for year one and a 15 per cent increase for year two.

The tribunal, in making the award last month, said the one per cent increase was based  on the circumstances that there were  gradual  improvements in the company's  finances  and the inflation  out-turn  in 2020 and 2021, which accumulated to the 12.5 per cent increase.

King's Counsel Allan Wood, who represented the company, argued that the thrust of the union's claim was that they "want to go back to the glory days of the past and seems quite oblivious of the changes which have taken place in the industry which led to the closure of the plant and redundancy of workers."

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security had, in October last year, referred the dispute to the tribunal which was in relation to the union's claim for increased wages and other improved  fringe benefits for the period November 2019 to November 2021.

The union called witnesses to support its claim.

The managing director of the company, Leonid Stavitskiy, in his testimony opposing the claim, referred to the company's brief which showed that the cost to implement the union's claim would be in excess of US$10.6 million. He said that in its continued operations, the company was dependent on support from its parent company UC Rusal to survive, as the local operation was not profitable.

In analysing its findings, the tribunal stated that the factual evidence was that Jamaica's bauxite and alumina sector "faces" a number of challenges, primary among them was the cost of energy and caustic soda.

"There is also a gradual decline in aluminium content in its bauxite ore, which has to do with the longevity of the plants. While the Ewarton Alumina Plant remains the only one open at present in Jamaica, the age and size of the plant has resulted in increasing  production costs and a decline in Ewarton's alumina production in 2019, 2020 and 2021 when compared with any three years prior to the Plant's closure,” it said.

The tribunal did not make any award in some of the claims such as shift premium, signing bonus, public holidays and scholarships for the workers' children, which were being sought.

 No award was made in respect to the pension claim for the company to contribute five per cent and the workers three per cent.  In referring to that claim, the tribunal said it was heartened by the company's expressed willingness to implement a pension scheme once the financial situation has improved.

"We strongly encourage the parties to actively pursue a retirement scheme in which they could consider participating for the benefits of the workers,” the tribunal said, adding that it would be interested in an update on that in the near future.

No award was made for group life insurance to be increased. The tribunal said the evidence offered much hope that group insurance "remains part of the active discussion between the parties at the local level". There was no award for redundancy payment as the tribunal found that the union has not laid out a case.

The union asserted that the workers at Kirkvine were part of the union and were entitled to incentive bonus but that was contested by the company. 

The tribunal ruled that the award of incentive bonus payment must be extended to the workers at Kirkvine who were part of the existing bargaining unit.

Awards were made for laundry allowance and overtime/out of base allowance. 

- Barbara Gayle

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.