The powerful Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), hoping to break the near stranglehold on the bauxite sector by the National Workers Union (NWU), is prodding the labour ministry to speed up its bargaining rights claim for workers at the St Ann Bauxite Company.

The union is seeking to represent 70 junior managers, engineers and information technology specialists at St Ann Bauxite Company (formerly Kaiser Jamaica) and is growing impatient, accusing the company of using delay tactics to thwart its bid to represent the workers.

In December 2006, the BITU filed representational rights claims at the labour ministry but no date has as yet been set for the poll. The union alleged that the management of St Ann Bauxite had been refusing to turn over certain documents to the ministry.

“We have satisfied all the criteria for the processing of the claim, but the company has failed miserably in fulfilling its part,” BITU assistant general secretary, Kavan Gayle complained.

“We are concerned about the delay and we are calling on the Ministry of Labour to ensure that the provisions of the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA) are observed,” Gayle insisted.

The ministry acknowledged the BITU claim but said it was currently taking the necessary steps under the LRIDA to facilitate the process for the holding of a poll.

Under the LRIDA, the employer has 15 days to respond to the claim. That period expired two weeks ago, the union said.

The BITU currently has no representation in the lucrative bauxite sector that is largely controlled by the NWU which has latterly had to share its dominance with the University and Allied Workers Union.

St Ann Bauxite in Discovery Bay, previously owned by Kaiser Aluminum and the Government of Jamaica, was bought in 2004 by Falconbridge Limited and Century Aluminum.

Falconbridge is a Canadian mining company which produces and markets aluminium and other metals. It was absorbed by Swiss-based Xstrata Plc, a former major shareholder, last July.

Century Aluminum was formed in 1995 by Glencore International of Switzerland as a holding company for its aluminium-producing assets.

Most of the company’s bauxite is refined at Gramercy, Louisiana and the rest sold to third parties. The annual bauxite production capacity is 4.5 million tonnes of ore and the company employs a total of 450 persons.