THE country could be plunged into darkness on Friday if the more than 1,000 unionised Jamaica Public Service workers go ahead with their threat to strike.

The workers issued the strike threat yesterday following what they said was the company’s failure to pay over outstanding money, three weeks after the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal in favour of a new salary structure, retroactive to January 2001.

Last night, Winsome Callum, the JPS’ head of corporate communications, told the Observer that the company was unable to comment on the matter at this time.

Yesterday, the National Workers Union (NWU), one of three

unions representing the workers, gave the company 72 hours to inform the workers of a timeline to implement the judgement or else deal with the consequence.

“The country will see what happens come Friday morning,” said Clive Dobson, former president of the

NWU. “The workers are rearing to go, and rightfully so,” Dobson told the Observer last night. “.When you think of the type of service they give to the country, I have had to beg them to hold on just a little longer,” he added.

The workers, said Dobson, were on full strike alert and knows what to do if an amicable agreement is not reached by 8:00 am on Friday .

Dobson told the Observer that the workers were put on strike alert after the union received a letter from the JPS, stating that the latest judgement by the Court of Appeal was under further review.

“They sent me a letter to say that the judgement is under review and as soon as it becomes practicable, we will hear from them as to the way forward.

But Dobson said this was totally unacceptable, considering the company has had seven years to review the information.

“We have no intention of waiting because they have not given us a timeline and so we could be waiting for a year,” he said.

Dobson said the workers wanted the company’s management to meet with them to voice their intention as to whether they intend to take the matter to the country’s final court of appeal, the United Kingdom-based Privy Council, or to sit and discuss a programme of implementation.

“I say to the people of Jamaica, we have waited seven years and the company’s behaviour is a vindictive one against the workers and we can’t see it any other way,” Dobson said.

Recommendations for the award were made since 2002 in a job evaluation and compensation review conducted by Trevor Hamilton and Associates and Peat Marwick and Partners, respectively.

According to Dobson, following the sale of the JPS to Mirant in March 2001, and despite a Memorandum of Understanding to continue bargaining in good faith, the new board rejected those recommendations and tried to implement its own pay structure based on performance.

However, both the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) and the National Workers Union (NWU) resisted the move and threatened to strike in December 2002. The matter was then referred to the IDT in February 2003. But although the parties agreed to abide by the tribunal’s ruling, the company appealed the decision via a judicial review in 2005 and then through the Court of Appeal.

An adamant Dobson said yesterday that the JPS workers have been in a fighting mood since the judgement was handed down three weeks ago. He said they had been patient until they received this letter with no clear indication of when the matter would be settled.