Air Traffic Control has been classified as an ‘essential service’, in a Bill to amend the Public Utility Undertakings and Public Health Services Arbitration Act, which, if passed, will prohibit strikes in that sector.
The Public Utility Undertakings and Public Health Services Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2009, seeks to amend the long title of the Principal Act so as to make it clear that the scope of the Act relates to settlement of disputes and prohibition of strikes and lock-outs in essential services.
It also seeks to amend Section 19 of the principal Act “so as to enhance the fine specified in that section (for a lockout or fine contrary to the Act) to an amount more appropriate to the present and also to provide for the punishment of continuing offences”. Another clause in the Bill seeks to repeal and re-enact the Schedule to the Principal Act with a new Schedule to comply with the International Labour Organisation’s definition of ‘essential services’.
The Bill was tabled in the National Assembly by Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir yesterday.
The amendment to Section 19 of the principal Act states that “every person who contravenes or fails to comply with section 12 commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to (a) a fine not exceeding thirty thousand dollars and (b) if the offence is a continuing one, a further fine not exceeding one thousand dollars for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues.”
Essential services are listed as: any dockage, wharfage, discharging, loading or unloading of vessels or related service; any direct or indirect production, storage, distribution, sale, delivery or supply of potable water; any direct or indirect generation, transmission, sale or supply of electricity; any service essential to the continued provision of telecommunications; any health care or related service operated by the Georgetown Public Hospital Board, any other public corporation established under the Public Corporations Act 1988, a public hospital, the government or a local authority; any air traffic control service, any service provided by the Transport and Harbours Department or the Maritime Authority; any service related to drainage and irrigation; any cemetery, scavenging or solid waste services of a municipality; and the marketing and distribution services of all petroleum and allied products.
Air traffic controllers have been in the spotlight recently when they initiated industrial action in protest against not receiving a 10% retroactive payment. Their action had caused the operations at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport to be limited to daylight hours only. They returned to work almost a week later.
