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UCASE President Vincent Morrison
By Nakinskie Robinson
Technical staff at Petrojam Limited has staged a sickout after reaching a gridlock over months-long wage negotiations.
Speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Wednesday morning, President of the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE) Vincent Morrison said agreement was reached between the management and union.
But the Ministry of Finance and Public Service has intervened in the negotiations, granting approval for a lower offer than initially agreed on by the staff and Petrojam's management.
This, he said, has angered the state owned oil company's employees.
"We're talking about 1% difference. The workers are very, very upset because these negotiations have been going on for sometime. We find the Ministry of Finance's position very anti-worker. Having granted increases to whoever over the past month, we have a situation where a 1% difference has caused industrial action," Mr. Morrison lamented.
Mr. Morrison said the finance ministry must desist from interfering with salary discussions between companies and their employees.
He argued that the ministry's approach has been the source of several wage disputes across the public sector.
"The Ministry of Finance cannot take over collective bargaining in Jamaica. That is what we have been doing. They have been destroying the longstanding tenets of collective bargaining between the workers and the management in this country," he said, adding that UCASE supports the action by Petrojam staff "150% in this issue".
Latoya Pennant, Public Relations Officer for Petrojam Limited, informed Radio Jamaica News that measures have been implemented by the company to minimise any service disruptions and to ensure customers receive their products.
She said the company is working to resolve the current issue.
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