AN agreement was reached on Tuesday morning for employees of Caribbean Products Limited (CPL), a subsidiary of Seprod, to return to work on a new shift which has been introduced by the company.

This came out of the second meeting between the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the management of the company, and the union representing workers who had staged a protest on Monday against the new arrangement which they said was implemented without an agreement between the management and employees.

The disgruntled, placard-bearing workers turned up at the company on Monday morning but did not take up the new shifts, in protest against how the arrangement was implemented. They had vowed to remain off the job until there was a resolution to their grouses concerning the company’s new shift arrangement.

“They have indeed implemented shifts, and we are not pleased with the way it has been done nor do we have an agreement of any sort to validate that arrangement,” National Workers Union (NWU) Island Supervisor Khurt Fletcher told the Jamaica Observer on Monday, before the first meeting with the Labour Ministry took place at noon.

He said that the union has been in discussion with the company outside of its labour agreement, which expires December 31, regarding the implementation of a flexi-workweek arrangement, but those talks have borne no fruit.

However, chief executive officer of the Seprod Group of Companies, Richard Pandohie told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday that the company was not introducing flexi-week, but implementing a fourth shift as it moves to “modernise the factory, drive productivity and efficiency improvement, and manage the work/life balance of its staff”.

He said normality is expected to return to the company when workers take up their new shifts, which started at 10:00 pm Tuesday.

The CEO explained that a year ago CPL entered into an agreement to become the regional manufacturer for a global company in the margarine space. He said this agreement is transformational and required Seprod/CPL to make significant investments in new equipment, completely rebuild the margarine plant, and move to a continuous operation.

“The process has been painful and has come at a great cost to the group — but this was necessary to move us to the next level of being regionally competitive, expand our exports, and expand our capability to do different products. In truth, it has been like trying to live in a house while building it. During this period our production has been significantly reduced; as an example, we have temporarily lost a significant part of our domestic gold seal market share to imports because we have not been producing enough,” he said.

Pandohie further explained that to meet the new volume requirement the company has to transition to 24-hour production, seven days per week, and to do this there was a need to implement another shift of workers (a fourth shift). He said that the union has been resisting this move, despite months of talks, and recently came out and said their members have outrightly rejected it.

“This fourth shift would allow everyone to rotate, thus not working every weekend, reduce fatigue level, reduce absenteeism, and increase productivity. The company went beyond the existing labour code proposed to pay premium rates on the weekend days, even when it falls in the 40-hour work schedule. So, if someone works Wednesday to Sunday they would be paid for eight hours on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; time and half on Saturday [12 hours]; and double time on Sunday [16 hours], making that five days [and] equivalent to 52 hours of pay,” he said.

Fletcher told the Observer on Monday that workers believed that they would be in a worse position with the new arrangement. He explained that the current arrangement is for employees to work 40 hours, Monday to Friday, and there are arrangements made for Saturday and Sunday, if required. He said the flexi-work arrangement will now have the 40-hour workweek instituted anywhere between Monday and Sunday, “which means that you would not automatically have the weekend off”.

Pandohie countered this to say that this is not the case and is in fact a positive move for the existing employees, and new employment opportunities for others.

“What is really being fought for by the delegates and others is to maintain the abnormal work schedule of the last 12 months, which saw them working overtime every single week. It is the status quo they are trying to protect. For 2023, so far, the wage bill at CPL is $204 million and the overtime bill is $90 million — so we are producing less with a fatigued workforce, high absenteeism, and paying more. Our employees are intelligent people, they know this is not good for the business and not good for them,” he said.

Under the heads of agreement between CPL and NWU, a copy of which was seen by the Observer, an arbitrator will be selected to settle the dispute over the interpretation of the existing agreement, specifically the application of the hours of work. The cost for the arbitrator will be shared by both parties.