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Friday, 06 March 2009
Some categories of unionised workers at some Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) plants are on sick out.
As a result, the JPS is warning its customers that they could experience interruptions in their electricity supply within the next 24 hours.
RJR News has received confirmation that workers at the company's Rockfort and Bogue Power Plants did not report for duties Thursday night and that the JPS has since activated its emergency plans as it prepares for major disruptions to its operations.
It is likely that management personnel will begin manning critical areas of the company's various power plants on Friday.
A statement issued by the JPS says everything is being done to minimise the effects of any possible industrial action on customers.
JPS workers had been restive since a breakdown in talks involving the company and their trade unions on Thursday.
The parties are said to be at loggerheads over payments reportedly owed following a Job Evaluation and Compensation Review Exercise.
The payments are said to be outstanding for a number of years due to a disagreement between the sides on the interpretation of an August 2003 ruling by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT).
Back to the IDT or to the court - Charles
In keeping with the Agreement, between May and June 2008, the Company made a net payment of approximately $2.3 billion to employees affected by the Job Reclassification Exercise.
The Company also made the commitment to pay the associated $1.2 billion in taxes on behalf of the employees, resulting in total employee remuneration of approximately $3.5 billion from the IDT settlement.
However, according to the JPS, since the payout, representatives of the workers' trade unions have requested additional payments for overtime.
The unions say this is based on their interpretation of a clause in the Heads of Agreement which differs from the Company's opinion.
A number of meetings were subsequently held at the Ministry of Labour on the matter, and the JPS accepted a proposal for independent arbitration last October.
However, the company says the unions have refused to have any arbitration on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labour says it will be taking action to settle the dispute at the JPS.
Labour Minister Pearnel Charles says there are three options are available to his Ministry.
"Either the management and the unions agree on the interpretation or the matter is sent back to the IDT or before the court," he said.
JPS to apply for tariff adjustment
And as the JPS moves to prevent an islandwide shutdown, it is also preparing to submit an application for a tariff adjustment from the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR).
The OUR says it expects to receive the application on Friday.
OUR Spokesman, David Geddes, told RJR News that it will conduct a series of public consultations before it decides on the rate of increase to be granted to the JPS.
"The terms of their licence stipulates that their application should be submitted to the OUR by March 1 ... we do know that they've been doing some last minute tidying up to it," he said.
Under the 2001 licence which the JPS operates, tariff reviews take place every five years, when the OUR sets a base rate for a kilowatt hour of electricity and establishes key operating standards for the company.
In between these reviews, the JPS is allowed annual adjustments for inflation.