NEWLY appointed minister of labour and social security Derrick Kellier is expected to have his mettle tested this weekend by the current dispute at the Jamalco’s Clarendon Alumina Works in May Pen, Clarendon.

Industrial disputes at the Frome and St Thomas sugar estates, which are threatening this year’s sugar crop, and unrest at the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) are also creating problems for the labour ministry, within days of Kellier’s arrival.

The minister is likely to go to the Supreme Court today to seek an injunction blocking a strike by some 130 supervisors and clerks at Jamalco which is scheduled to begin any time after 11 o’clock Sunday night.

The strike became imminent after the Union of Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (UTASP) issued a 72-hour notice, following the breakdown of wage talks at the Ministry of Labour on Thursday night. The strike notice is a requirement under the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA) to allow time for the company to close down operations without endangering the plant.

Sources told the Observer that with the breakdown in the talks, and with no likelihood of averting a closure, Kellier will be heading to the court to seek an injunction, as was done by his predecessor, Horace Dalley, last November after UTASP issued a similar notice on the management of ALPART at Nain, St Elizabeth.

In the meantime, JAMALCO’s management issued a statement yesterday suggesting an early closure to ensure “safe and smooth operations” at the alumina refinery.

The company claimed that UTASP issued the strike notice, despite “significant movements” in its offers to resolve the pay dispute over the nine months of negotiations. The last agreement between the parties expired in December 2004.

“We have moved a long way, and we have developed a very competitive package, but we cannot meet the total demands of UTASP,” Jamalco’s managing director Alberto Fabrini said in the statement. He added that by threatening to strike, UTASP was placing at risk the offers already on the table.

UTASP’s general secretary St Patrice Ennis was not available for comment yesterday.

In the meantime, there has been no settlement of a strike involving approximately 300 hourly-paid workers at the St Thomas sugar estates, Duckenfield, since Monday. The workers are protesting that sanitary conveniences and other infrastructure in their newly- built living quarters are not adequate.

University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU) vice-president Clifton Grant said last night that a meeting has been proposed with the Sugar Producers’ Federation (SPF) on Monday, in an effort to resolve the dispute.

At Frome, some workers stopped working yesterday, calling for the firing of the board of the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) and managing director Livingstone Morrison. The SCJ operates the five cash-strapped, government-owned sugar factories – Bernard Lodge, Frome, Long Pond, Monymusk and St Thomas.

The SCJ-owned factories have now been placed under the purview of Minister of Agriculture and Land Roger Clarke, who has promised to visit Frome today. For the past two years they had been under the control of the Ministry of Finance and Planning.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labour confirmed yesterday that it would schedule a meeting for next week between the JPS Managers’ Association and the company, to conciliate a pay dispute which is threatening its operations.

The Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE) is currently reviewing recent offers made by the company to resolve a dispute involving technical and supervisory workers.

-balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com