By Robert Hart, Staff Reporter
Danny Roberts (right), vice-president of
the JCTU, and Senator Dwight Nelson, JCTU president, in
an animated
discussion
yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
THE JAMAICA Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) will meet with representatives of Petrojam, the state-owned oil refinery next week, as soaring oil prices continue to threaten the integrity of the historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with Government earlier this year.
The meeting will centre around Petrojam's price adjustment mechanisms, used to determine gas prices, which have factored in a more than $10 per litre hike in petrol cost since the start of the year.
Yesterday's nearly $2 increase has pushed gas prices at the pump above the $37 per litre mark for 90 octane fuel, up from around $22 earlier this year. At the same time the cost of other goods and services could soon see increases as oil costs soar above US$40 per barrel. The Government's capacity to hold inflation between eight and nine per cent, in keeping with the terms of the MoU, could also be put at risk.
The galloping cost of fuel could jeopardise the three-month old MoU for public sector workers if the cost of living is radically increased during the mounting worldwide oil crisis.
But Danny Roberts, vice-president of the JCTU, told The Gleaner yesterday that the trade unions would stick firmly to their pact with Government. "We are standing by the MoU. It is rooted in the principle of good faith," he stressed.
Next week, trade union leaders will also meet to iron out strategies to cushion the impact of the escalating oil prices on their members. At least one of those leaders has opted against commenting on the continued viability of the MoU until after that meeting.
Mr. Roberts yesterday noted that next week's meeting with Petrojam should allow the JCTU to better explain to its members how fuel prices are set. "In a crisis like this, understanding must be deep," he stated.
He said the JCTU is also seeking to meet with the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica and the Ministry of Commerce, Science and Technology, "to better understand Jamaica's response to the oil crisis."
On Wednesday, Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell warned that Jamaicans should brace themselves for sustained increases in oil prices. Speaking during his contribution to the 2004/2005 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives, he pointed to a host of initiatives the Government would undertake to promote energy efficiency and reel in oil spending.
