‘We’ve met so far over nine times with GPL from September to now and nothing has been done, they’ve made no offer so the workers are fed up and would have forced our representatives to take industrial action of which the union supported’
Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir says he is moving to deal “condignly” with those GPL workers who went on strike on Monday even as their union says efforts are underway to get them all back on the job by today.
A release from the minister yesterday noted that GPL is covered under the Essential Services Act which stipulates the conditions under which employees of entities designated as essential services could take industrial action.
According to the Act, “An employer shall not declare or take part in a lock-out and a worker shall not take part in a strike with any trade dispute unless (a) the dispute has been reported to the Minister (b) one month has elapsed after the report (c) the dispute has not been referred to a tribunal.”
The minister also noted that some workers at the Linden Municipality had also proceeded on strike and said he is moving to deal condignly with these “two alarming instances.”
General Secretary of the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) Kenneth Joseph told reporters yesterday that he and two other union representatives and GPL management officials met Chief Labour Officer Yoganand Persaud on Monday afternoon and they agreed to meet again yesterday morning.
However, he said the company representatives failed to turn up and Persaud pointed out that this may have been because the workers had breached the Act. But Joseph said the union told the CLO that they supported the workers’ action because of GPL’s behaviour.
“We’ve met so far over nine times with GPL from September to now and nothing has been done, they’ve made no offer so the workers are fed up and would have forced our representatives to take industrial action of which the union supported,” Joseph said.
He added that the union was urged to get the workers back on the job and inform Persaud so that he could arrange a meeting with the company. The general secretary said they are doing so because they want to ensure there are negotiations and that their members are paid before year end.
“If we use what is existing in the Act, the 28 days notice given to the minister, we’re certain this would take us over to next year and I know the company recognise that they can further drag their feet on the matter and they are at the moment using the Act to bury their employees,” he charged.
According to Joseph, the dispute revolves around GPL’s 2009 decision to give workers additional duties with a promise to pay them for that work but to date they have received no payment for those duties. “What should we do, send a 28 days notice? GPL is promising all the time, they’re promising we’re going to look at this, we’re going to be looking at that. We will be using a different strategy now, it appears like whenever we send a proposal to GPL we’ll have to send that same proposal to the minister and give him the 28 days notice according to the law,” he added.
Joseph said that the workers were not happy that they had to return to work but have signaled that they would do so because they want the matter dealt with quickly. Close to 70% of the workers attached to the Networks and Generation departments went on strike for a 15% across-the-board pay raise. They included workers in Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara. The union leader said the workers started returning to work yesterday and by 8 am today he should be able to brief the CLO on the situation.
He had told this newspaper on Monday that the issue of an across-the-board increase in salaries and allowances for workers for this year had been discussed in the first quarter of this year and since then NAACIE had sent several proposals on the issue to the power company. Yesterday he said that there was no change in their negotiating position since the company has yet to come with a counter proposal since talks started in March.
As to whether there was likely to be any action against the workers who were off the job, Joseph said he did not “foresee any punitive measures from the ministry itself” but there might be some from GPL .
Nadir in his release stated that those workers who engage in actions contrary to the law “open themselves to being terminated and losing hard-earned benefits.”
The law also provides for penalties for those in contravention and states that those who fail to comply with the relevant section commit an offence and are liable on summary conviction to: a fine not exceeding $30,000 and imprisonment for a term not exceeding two months; and if the offence is a continuing one, a further fine not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues.
GPL in a release on Monday stated that it has been in negotiations with the union over the past weeks on increases in wages and salaries for 2010 and while some progress has been made they are yet to reach an agreement.
“NAACIE is fully aware of the procedure which has to be followed leading to industrial action in an essential service but this knowledge has not informed its action, or that of its members. Persons involved in this illegal action are aware of the options available to GPL,” the company stated.
Meanwhile, according to the release from Nadir, he has ordered that notices be put up in workplaces about which sectors fall under Essential Services.
The sectors that are classified as Essential Services include 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 service operated by the Georgetown Public Hospital Board; any health care or related service operated by any other public corporation established under the Public Corporations Act 1988 (No.21 of 1988), by any public hospital, or by the Government or any local authority.
Other services so classified are any air traffic control service; any service provided by the Transport and Harbours Department or the Maritime Authority; any service relevant to drainage and irrigation; and the cemetery, scavenging and solid waste services of the Municipalities.
