PM appeals to NWC staff to return to work, restore water supply
Prime Minister Andrew Holness is appealing to workers of the National Water Commission (NWC) to end their strike and return water supply across the island.
More than 2,000 NWC employees remained off the job for a second consecutive day on Wednesday as they continued their industrial action over an outstanding reclassification exercise as well as the ongoing public sector compensation review.
The situation has left more than 500,000 NWC customers without water.
Speaking Wednesday at a Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation retreat in Trelawny, Holness made an urgent appeal to NWC workers to return to work and restore the water supply to the nation.
“Negotiations are ongoing so there is really now no need now for the public to be deprived of the essential commodity,” Holness said, adding that “steady progress” is being made in discussions between unions and the government.
“I want to assure Jamaicans that we’re doing everything possible to return water supply to those areas that now don’t have water supply, and in fact, the reports I am receiving would be that some areas have already started to receive water,” the prime minister said.
Noting that he was “concerned” that there was no notice given ahead of the industrial action, Holness said that the government has moved to clarify whether the NWC is an essential service.
“We consider water to be an essential commodity… an essential service. In the order of things we must establish that this is the case, so I have asked the attorney general to advise the government as to whether or not the NWC is an essential service and to how those workers would be classified,” he said.