Water break

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has again called an emergency meeting to deal with worker unrest, this time with the unions representing workers of the National Water Commission (NWC) who have threatened strike action that could potentially see customers facing lengthy water lock-offs.

In a statement yesterday, the ministry said it had called the emergency conciliation meeting for today in response to a 72-hours strike notice served on the NWC.

At the meeting, which was announced several hours after the unions representing workers at the NWC jointly served the strike notice over concerns with the ongoing public sector compensation review, it is hoped an agreement can be worked out to break the tension around the compensation proposal.

In its release, the labour ministry said the management of the NWC and the unions have been invited to conciliation talks at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s office, commencing at 2 p.m.

This is the second time in recent months that the labour ministry has had to intervene in an industrial relations dispute.

In March, the labour ministry called an emergency meeting between the Ministry of Education and Youth and the Jamaica Teachers’ Association after the teachers union threatened industrial action at government-administered educational institutions.

Now, the more than 2,000 workers at the state-owned NWC, which provides piped-water services to customers across the island, want the Government to address their concerns about the new salary bands outlined in the compensation review.

Helene Davis-White, general secretary of the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers (JALGO), said the notice, dated July 7, was delivered close to 7 o’clock on Saturday evening.

“The issues relate to discontent over the pay bands developed for the NWC, particularly at the lower ends, and the conversion principles, but we do not want to go into details in the media at this time,” Davis-White told The Gleaner.

The Government has, over the past several months, been pursuing a contentious restructuring of compensation for public-sector workers.

Davis-White said she had hoped for the meeting to take place today.

The other agencies representing workers at the utility company are the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, the National Workers’ Union, the Union of Public and Private Employees, and the NWC Executive Staff Association.

The threat of strike action comes as customers continue to grapple with restrictions implemented months ago to deal with the ongoing drought.

In May of last year, the workers went on strike for two days over a reclassification exercise, crippling businesses and some public services across the country. Some 500,000 customers were affected.

The Planning Institute of Jamaica reported a month later that the protest cost the NWC $240 million in revenue.

A back-to-work proposal then included a compensation review that was to be implemented within six months.

Amid last year’s protests, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said he had sought a legal opinion from Attorney General Dr Derrick McKoy on whether the NWC and its workers are classified as essential workers - a categorisation which, according to Part III Subsection (9) (5) of the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act, would forbid them from taking industrial action.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com