A strike by scores of workers of the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), yesterday forced the company to shut down one of its generating units at the Old Harbour power plant in St Catherine due to the lack of personnel to man its operations.

The JPS management said it was not advised about the strike, which it said seriously disrupted the normal delivery of electricity to customers, as its units islandwide all performed below par.

“The union did not advise the company of any intention to take strike action, but a number of employees in critical areas of the organisation’s 24-hour operations have been calling in sick since last (Tuesday) night,” the JPS said in a statement yesterday morning.

However, the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (UCASE), which represents almost 500 JPS workers, said last night that it would be encouraging the disgruntled workers to get back to work last night.

In the meantime, the management of the light and power company said it could not guarantee normal electricity supplies if the strike continued.

The company’s head of corporate communication, Winsome Callum, said there could be load shedding in the absence of adequate personnel to man the power stations, a rescheduling of planned maintenance and the inability to deal with some emergencies, if the workers remained off the job.

The workers were protesting against what they said was “unsatisfactory results” concerning new salary and benefits arrangements, arising from negotiations held on Tuesday between the management of JPS and representatives from UCASE.

The JPS management said in a statement that it was disappointed with the work stoppage as the parties had made significant progress in Tuesday’s meeting and had even planned to meet again later in the week to continue discussions.

But UCASE boss Senator Navel Clarke told the Observer that the union did not authorise the strike.

“Some delegates might have been disgruntled at the end of the meeting on Tuesday, but we instructed persons taking action to return to normalcy for the next shift which begins at 10 o’clock (last night),” Clarke said.

He said, too, that a meeting is scheduled for today between the JPS management and UCASE to discuss the dispute.

A labour ministry official said yesterday that the NWU/BITU bargaining aspect of the negotiations had been settled previously for hourly-paid workers, but issues concerning clerical, administrative and supervisory employees were yet to be dealt with.

He described Wednesday’s strike as ‘peculiar’ and said that the ministry would be keeping an eye on the situation.