PM appeals for NWC workers to end strike

 

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has appealed to employees of the National Water Commission (NWC) to end their strike, which is now in its second day.

 

Protesting NWC employees have shutdown all of the entity's major systems leaving more than 500,000 customers without water.

 

Mr. Holness said "steady progress" is being made as negotiations continue at the Ministry of Labour, however, there is no need for the public to be further deprived of water. 

 

"I want to assure Jamaicans that we're doing everything possible to return water supply to those areas that now don't have water supply, and in fact, the reports I am receiving would be that some areas have already started to receive water," he announced.  

 

Mr. Holness said the government is also trying to clarify whether the NWC is an essential service. 

 

"We consider water to be an essential commodity. We consider it to be an essential service. In the order of things, we must establish that this is the case, so I've asked the Attorney General to advise the government on the position as to whether or not the NWC is an essential service and how those workers would be classified. I just need to know and understand that. It is the belief that we have, but we want to just confirm it from a legal point of view," he explained. 

 

The Prime Minister was speaking Wednesday at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation's leadership retreat in Trelawny.

                                          

Earlier, Robert Morgan, Minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, referred to the industrial action by NWC workers as an "illegal strike".