Corrections and Clarifications: There was an error in today's paper - The last three paragraphs beginning "At yesterday's meeting, the company presented the unions with a maintenance schedule..." was inadvertently reproduced from an earlier report on the developments at Jamalco. It did not refer to the meeting on Wednesday chaired by Anthony Hylton, Minister of Mining and Energy.
THE LOCAL bauxite/alumina industry suffered another setback yesterday, with the announcement that the resumption of alumina production at Jamalco's Halse Hall plant in Clarendon is not likely before early December.
The plant has been closed since October 11, after a wildcat strike two days' previously by some 360 hourly-paid workers represented by the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU). The workers locked the gates to the plant, detaining the rest of staff for as much as 48 hours.
The Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) ordered normality at the plant by October 15, but the company laid-off the workers prior to the deadline, citing a maintenance schedule which it said would be effected on that date. After a meeting with the union, the company postponed the start of the schedule to October 22, but said that it would last a maximum four weeks.
Yesterday, the parties met again as former Minister of Mining and Industry Robert Pickersgill introduced his successor Anthony Hylton to the unions (the others being the National Workers Union (NWU) and the Union of Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (UTASP). The occasion was at the second quarterly review of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the unions and the companies for the year at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston.
At yesterday's meeting, the company presented the union with a maintenance schedule which outlined that major jobs would commence on October 22 and be completed within four weeks.
The parties agreed that under this phased resumption plan, some of the laid off employees would be called back as job requirements dictate.
They also agreed to continue the discussions next week and to seek to ensure that they are conducted within the framework established under the MOU between the Government, the bauxite/alumina companies and the unions in the industry in 1998.
