IT is still summer, but the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) this week issued a 14-day ultimatum on Columbus Communications (Flow), seeking a Christmas bonus for the unionised staff in December.

“We wrote them December 19 last year seeking a two-week bonus. We never got a response, and it was too close to Christmas to make a dispute, so we are seeking to resolve the issues as early as possible this year,” BITU assistant island supervisor, George Nicholas, said yesterday.

The BITU issued a 24-hour ultimatum on the company last December to pay the bonus, but Flow never responded and the matter petered out with the Christmas season.

The Jamaica Observer was unable to get a response from Flow yesterday, and the union said that the company had still not indicated whether or not it would negotiate the claim. But, Nicholas said that if there was no response within the next 14 days the workers would take industrial action.

The BITU won bargaining rights for over 70 employees of Flow at locations in Kingston, Mandeville, St Ann, and Montego Bay in May, 2010.

Flow, the trading name for Columbus Communications, is a Barbados-based international business corporation that invests in retail broadband telecommunications providers in Jamaica, Grenada, Curacao, and Trinidad & Tobago, as well as wholesale broadband in 23 countries in the Caribbean and Central America.

Any action taken by the unionised workers in Jamaica would only affect the local operations of Columbus Communications (Jamaica) Limited.