Some King Alarm employees protest 'unfair' wages, poor working conditions

By Nakinskie Robinson    

 

Some King Alarm employees on Monday morning staged a protest outside the company's corporate office in St. Andrew, over what they say are unfair wages and poor working conditions.

 

The disgruntled group say they were not included in recent salary increases and have not been receiving overtime pay, where applicable.

 

In some cases, they contend that the overtime rate is below the stipulated time and a half and that they do not receive meal subsidies, contrary to an agreed provision.

 

The workers told Radio Jamaica News that there is no Human Resources Manager to whom they can relay their concerns. 

 

"The only person who talk to us some of the time is [Senior Operations Manager Delano] Virgo and Mr. Virgo is not giving us anything. We don't have a union but we are in the process, very much advanced. Mr. Virgo summoned me to a meeting on the 6th of June, telling me that it has come to his attention that we approached the union... so it is obvious that they heard that we are about to retain a union for us, so they are trying all different things. They demote a lot of team leaders because of that," one worker complained. 

 

The workers also claim that they have been forced to carry out high risk jobs without the required equipment, including delivering cash without armoured vehicles. 

 

But King Alarm's Managing Director John Azar has rejected the claims made by the employees.

 

He said, while employees have a right to voice their concerns, the company's management has made itself open to communicate. 

 

"All members of staff know that they have direct line of contact with the management team to include me. So to say that persons have been unable to communicate freely would not be true, but sometimes persons may not like what they hear. So from our perspective, we currently employ in excess of five thousand members of staff. While every single member of staff's voice is important, I think we need to put into perspective nine or ten or eleven persons who are expressing themselves - as is their right to do - maybe not in a manner I would have suggested to them."

 

Mr. Azar said there are several factors used to determine who receives a wage hike. 

 

"We granted an increase last week of between 10 per cent and upward to 30 per cent, with one employee getting over 42 per cent. So salary increases are done based on a number of factors to include performance. This instance, there are a handful of persons who receive no salary increase. There already paid significantly above the minimum range. So there's no mandate for us to increase the salaries. And to those persons, I would say they should speak to their direct managers again as to maybe why that was a case," he urged. 

 

The King Alarm managing director warned that criminal elements could use the protest action as as an opportunity to strike.

 

But he said the company has put additional teams on the road to mitigate against any risk that Monday morning's action may cause.