Bargaining rights poll for Petrojam Jan 28
THE engineering and administrative staff of the Government-owned Petrojam oil refinery in Kingston will decide on Thursday, January 28, whether to become represented by the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE).
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security set the date for the poll earlier this week, after the refinery finally complied with its request for a list of the workers who will be eligible to participate in the poll.
UCASE’s general secretary, John Levy, told the
Jamaica Observer that the union would be seeking to represent the refinery’s engineering and administrative staff which also includes accountants and safety personnel.
“This is really virgin territory and these workers have encountered a number of challenges in seeking to become unionised. So we will regard this as a major victory,” an optimistic Levy said.
The poll will involve 91 employees of the refinery and will be conducted by the ministry.
Petrojam originally objected to the rights claim made by UCASE in February. However, the refinery eventually withdrew the objection.
Petrojam’s technicians are already represented by the Petroleum Workers Association, an affiliate of UCASE, which broke off from the National Workers union (NWU) last year following a leadership conflict.