MANAGING director of Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) c said yesterday that the 16 Engineering Department workers who were fired on Monday were dismissed because they “walked off the job”. In addition, he said, the company has lost confidence in them.

The dismissals followed an industrial dispute between the workers and CTL, which had resulted in the staff going on a two-day strike on August 11.

The workers said they went on strike due to a lack of consultation regarding staff training in the department.

As a result of the strike, the company had to abort simulcast racing for those two days along with local racing that was planned for August 13. According to Dalling, the company lost $54 million, and counting, in simulcast and local race sales.

Along with the strike, CTL had also reported that critical computer files needed to operate the system were missing and the police were called in to investigate the matter.

But Dalling told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that the 16 workers were not fired because of the strike or the missing files.

“The truth is [that] the staff walked off the job. They walked off the job despite me talking to them. On August 11 I met with them as they had several issues, and I sat and discussed the issues with them and asked them to return to work and they agreed.

“But they never did; they announced on national television that they would not be returning to work,” he said.

Dalling said the action of the workers was never sanctioned by the union representing them, as to date he had not received any correspondence from the Union of Technical, Advisory and Supervisory Personnel (UTASP) regarding the strike. He said that the union had only informed him that it had ordered the employees to return to work.

In the meantime, Dalling said that the sacking of the workers will not affect the work of the company as he is satisfied with the interim measures that have been instituted to fill the gaps. Also, he said the company is now seeking to employ new workers to fill the vacancies.

UTASP General Secretary St Patrice Ennis, when contacted yesterday, said the union would be vigorously challenging what he described as the “unjustifiable” dismissals.

“The ministry is the final arbitrator in matters of termination, and we intend to use those mechanisms to challenge the company’s decision and to seek reinstatement and justice for the workers,” he said.