Despite ongoing negotiations between United Company Rusal (UC Rusal) and the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE) — the union representing its workers — some workers at the Ewarton St Catherine plant have been asked to sign contracts without the approval of their union.

“Prior to the union winning representation, workers signed a contract — what you called a fixed-term contract. The company insisted that workers re-sign to that agreement,” UCASE President Vincent Morrison told the Jamaica Observer.

“With these contracts, workers had no input in the formulation of the contract. In other words, they were issued a contract, given three days to sign, and they signed because they want the job,” he continued.

But Morrison, who confirmed that negotiations were underway for a new collective bargaining agreement, condemned the company’s actions.

“It’s never happened in Jamaica before where a union gains representation and in the middle of negotiating a new collective labour agreement the company insist that the workers re-sign to the agreement that gave rise to the workers joining the union, because if the workers were happy with the contract between themselves and the company perhaps they would not have voted for union representation,” Morrison noted.

“So the point I’m making is that the union has become the sole bargaining agent for the workers and you cannot now, as management, try to force the workers to sign an agreement that, by virtue of the workers vote in the poll conducted by the ministry, must now become a sleeping dog,” he continued, outlining that workers were told that if they didn’t sign they wouldn’t be paid.

He said an intervention was made, when “matters started to get tense”.

“The workers were concerned, so we decided to avail ourselves of the conciliatory facilities of the Ministry of Labour. So, we wrote to the ministry and asked them to set up this meeting; they had the meeting last week Wednesday I think it was. What was confirmed at the meeting is what we were asking the company to do,” he revealed.

“We were asking them for a letter to confirm that when the union and the management signs off on the new collective labour agreement that new collective labour agreement, would make nullified the agreement that they signed with the workers,” Morrison stated.

He said that the company refused to produce such a letter initially but eventually did after the issue was brought to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

“…I think that on that basis (letter from the company) the workers went ahead and re-signed the agreement,” he reasoned.

An unflattering contract

But the president expressed concern regarding some conditions stipulated in the contract.

“The contract doesn’t provide payment for working on public holiday. We see in the contract that workers have given up rights and that’s not acceptable to the union,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Asked about other areas of concern, Morrison said: “Well, the workers have had one wage adjustment since the plant opened in 2010. They had an adjustment of 10 per cent last year. What we are saying to the company is that cost of living has moved by over 46 per cent since the plant reopened and the workers only got one adjustment on their salary and we think the workers are hurting. So, the question of adjusting the workers’ compensation package is one area.”

He reasoned that the devaluation of the Jamaica dollar and the cost of oil now, compared to then, will be considered when addressing the compensation package.

“When the plant closed I think the dollar was about $80 to US$1. It is now near $130 to US$1. The other crisis that led to the closure was where we had high oil prices that have come down considerably. Although the price of the metal is not where it was prior to the closure in 2010, based on the efficiencies and the productivity of the plant, we believe that something can be done to improve condition as it relates to wages,” he stated.

Additionally Morrison said: “There is no pension. For the first time ever in the bauxite/alumina industry, there are no pension arrangements. The whole question of severance payment… based on the contract the workers signed unilaterally with the company, that has been waived and, as the union, that’s one of the areas we cannot see eye to eye with the company on.”

Negotiation process

Asked how negotiations were going, Morrison said that “the pace of negotiations is in keeping with what has been happening in the industry”.

“There are some areas that we have been seeing eye to eye on; for example, we have asked the company to give us a list of the lands that they are no longer interested in mining to see whether some of these lands could provide housing solutions for these workers. So, we have an understanding there. We have an understanding on training and certification. We have an understanding on what we call a ‘fit bank’. So we had some understanding on certain items. In terms of the monetary items, the company has not made any offer for any of these items,” Morrison told the

Sunday Observer.

He added that the parties were adhering to a protocol signed at the beginning of the negotiations that stipulates conduct, among other things. He said he believes both parties have been respectful throughout the process.

Representatives from UCASE and UC Rusal are to meet this week to continue the negotiations.

“We believe that despite the challenges and difficulties, consideration must be given to the difficulty, the hardship that the workers are facing. We are trying to impress on the management the importance of this going forward,” the president stated.

Though the Sunday Observer fielded multiple questions to the company, a response from the Information and Public Affairs Officer Monique Grange only stated: “The company and the union are currently engaged in labour negotiations regarding terms and conditions of employment of members within the bargaining unit. Our practice is that we do not and we cannot negotiate in the media.”

The Ewarton plant was reopened in June 2010 after it was closed in 2009 as a result of a crash in the global metals market and an economic recession.

Last November, the union won bargaining rights for 427 workers employed to the Russian alumina company, becoming the sole agent of representation for workers.