An unfortunate issue of miscommunication.
That is how chairman of the Sanitation Service Authority, Ramon Alleyne, described what contributed to workers being off the job for a second successive day. And pending negotiations, industrial action has now come to an end.
Workers gathered at the Wildey, St Michael compound, still awaiting a meeting with management, but Alleyne said they should have gone back to work based on talks with deputy general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPE), Wayne Walrond.
Minister of the Environment, Adrian “Medic” Forde chaired the meeting of the parties on Tuesday.
“Arrangements were made with Mr Walrond yesterday that we would have certain meetings and discussions on outstanding issues and that the staff would be going back to work. Based on discussions that I had today with staff – as cheered by the Minister – obviously there was a lack of communication and workers were unaware as to certain elements of the agreement that had been made,” Alleyne told the media.
“The commitment made is that they would allow the process to go forward and that those negotiations with the NUPW will occur either tomorrow or Friday.”
In relation to the petition against general manager Janice Jones, Alleyne said that, like all other issues, would be investigated, and it was premature for any decisions to be made.
Walrond said some issues were dollars and cents, others interpersonal, and they wanted staff to be “treated like human beings and with human dignity”.
He added: “We are looking to get around the table with the chairman and thrash out the issues and hopefully get a positive resolution.” (SAT)