MONTEGO BAY, BAY James — As the company reels from the impact of industrial action taken since April 27, general manager for the state-run Montego Bay Metro bus service Dr Shauna Gaye Brown is “definitely optimistic” that commuters will be able to use the service before the end of this week.

“We losing a lot of money, a significant sum, and this comes at a time when we are trying to build the brand,” she told the Jamaica Observer. She chose not to provide a figure.

Brown also expressed concern about the impact the strike is having on commuters who depend on the service MoBay Metro provides along five routes in western Jamaica.

“Even the children who have exams, you know for those doing the CSEC, it’s May now and we leave them stranded,” she lamented.

She views the strike, which originally stemmed from an administrative error, as “unnecessary” and she is optimistic that a solution will be found within the Ministry of Labour.

The brouhaha began in March when what Brown described as “anomalies” in fortnightly employees’ salaries were noticed during discussions with the Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU) that is a part of the Government’s compensation review process. She assured the workers, she said, that efforts were being made to correct an error that impacts their compensation.

“What seemingly happened is that some employees were placed in the wrong band so they were placed higher than they ought to be. Some persons were placed in band five when they should be in band four; some were placed in band four when they should be in band three,” Brown explained.

The union, she said, was also informed about the situation.

“But at the time it could not be remedied so the instruction from the TIU was to go ahead and pay and whatever it is, we will resolve it after, which would seek to address over- and underpayment issues,” the GM added.

Payments were made as instructed, she added, and efforts were made to adjust the salaries in April, as agreed.

“They were all advised of that,” Brown insisted.

However deputy island supervisor for the National Worker’s Union Alexander Nicholson told the Observer that one of the issues is that they have been unable to obtain documentation to support MoBay Metro’s claims.

“We were told they cannot give us the document, so that’s where we are,” he said on Monday.

“They sent one document to say that we must review. So we said okay. But based on every e-mail we see, it says ‘revised’ so we are asking what was it revised from. Send us the original document so we can compare how this error came about. They said that the Ministry of Transport said that they shouldn’t give us the document,” he explained.

He said the workers and their representatives are looking forward to intervention from the labour ministry.

“We are awaiting management to meet back with us because they referred the matter to the Ministry of Labour, so we are waiting on them to confirm a meeting with the ministry,” he said.