By Balford Henry, News EditorMINISTER OF Labour and Social Security, Horace Dalley, decided last night to send the dispute at the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) over the utility firm's compensation policy back to the local level (direct union-management talks), after the company rejected his proposal for a tribunal to resolve the issue.
The Minister had met with the parties up to Friday in an effort to resolve the dispute over the company's proposal to change its pay policy to a performance-based one and limit basic pay to a percentage of the market range. After failing to arrive at an agreement, he proposed a three-man tribunal to hear the case and make recommendations. He gave the parties up to yesterday to respond to the proposal.
Both the Bustamante Industrial Trades Union (BITU) and the National Workers' Union (NWU), which represents clerical and hourly-paid staff, agreed with the Minister's proposal. But Charles Matthews, president and CEO of JPSCo, in a letter to the Minister, yesterday said that the company did not believe that a special tribunal was necessary and proposed, instead, that the issue be sent back to the local level.
JPSCo also offered to invite KPMG representatives to the local level meetings "to facilitate a greater understanding of the outcome of the market survey."
"Should we fail to reach an agreement, the matter would be referred back to the Ministry of Labour," the company told Minister Dalley.
But the JPSCo said that while it was prepared to be flexible in terms of the effective date for the pay increases arising from a recent job evaluation, its compensation policy was "non-negotiable", as its management "reserved the right to establish a compensation philosophy in the interest of the continued viability of the organisation."
The JPSCO said that it had already exercised flexibility relative to the retroactive date for the pay adjustments triggered by the recent job evaluation, by agreeing to move from its position of January, 2002 to the unions' position of January, 2001.
"On the issue of the transition to a performance-based system, the company indicated to the Minister that it was prepared to continue discussions while maintaining the integrity of the job evaluation system," the JPSCO told Minister Dalley.
In reiterating the basis for the company's compensation policy, JPSCo indicated that it believed that it was in the best interest of all employees and customers to adopt a compensation policy that will ensure fair and equitable compensation. The letter indicated that the company's compensation philosophy was geared towards attracting and retaining a cadre of qualified and productive staff.
"We believe that our proposed strategy will maintain us in the ranks of the top-paying companies in Jamaica, while ensuring that customers receive an efficient, cost-effective service," the company told Mr. Dalley.
JPSCo clerks and hourly-paid workers went on strike in late November defying a 30-day injunction against strike action issued by the Supreme Court. They were protesting against the company's decision to pay the job evaluation rates effective January, 2002 instead of January, 2001 and to introduce the performance-based pay system.
