THE four unions representing Jamaica Public Service (JPS) workers yesterday reached an agreement with the company's management, averting a possible disruption in the island's electricity supply.

Wesley Nelson, senior vice-president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), told the Observer that during a meeting with the company's CEO, Damian Obiglio, it was agreed that Alicia Lyle, director of human resource services at the light and power company, would be removed from the ongoing evaluation and reclassification process and replaced with Vincent Thomas, the company's industrial relations manager.

"She has been removed," he said. "We explained to the CEO that we could not continue with her, so they have replaced her."
It was not clear, however, why the trade unions wanted a different JPS manager to deal with the evaluation and reclassification, which has been at the centre of an ongoing dispute between the JPS and the unions.
At the same time, Nelson said the JPS employees would receive the estimated $2 billion owed to them by the end of May.
"We have set some timelines based on discussions between the CEO, the consultants and ourselves, and the workers will receive what they have been waiting for for seven years in short order," Nelson said.

Obligio, in a statement yesterday, said the company had made significant progress in the process as the oversight committee had agreed on how the payments would be calculated.

"In order to effect the process, the company has constituted a project implementation team," said the JPS boss. "In order to ensure accuracy and equability, the entire process will be audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers."

The consulting company conducting the evaluation and reclassification has also committed to completing its report by April 30.

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