Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) Managing Director Maria Myers-Hamilton has denied that the entity has been served with a 72-hour strike notice by the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE).

“I have had the full commitment of my staff that that is not the case, that there is no strike. I actually called around and persons are actually confused about the statement,” Myers-Hamilton told the Jamaica Observer on Saturday. “There is no strike at SMA.”

She was responding to a news report last Friday with UCASE claiming that workers were restive over a series of dismissals, and that a strike notice was issued later that day at 4:00 pm.

Myers-Hamilton explained that the strike notice from UCASE stems from an internal matter involving offer letters issued by the human resources manager without her approval.

“Most persons in the organisation have what you call a fixed-term contract, and when the contract comes to a natural end you have the option, on both parties, to say I would like to continue or call it a day and not continue,” she said.

“What the HR manager did is that she went and issued a letter to these three [contract workers] to say I’m offering you back your job and sign to say you are going to accept. This was done without my knowledge,” Myers-Hamilton added.

She said that, according to the company’s policy, the HR manager does not have the authority to issue these letters and in doing so, had gone beyond her role.

“The onus is on the managing director to give that authority, to have those discussions with the respective unit heads and the employee,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Myers-Hamilton said when she was made aware of what transpired, she held a meeting with the contract workers and union representatives early Friday afternoon to discuss the misunderstanding.

“All members left the room comfortable, and I said to them ‘We will be meeting next week, and we will go through what are the options on the table when your contract is coming up to a close’,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“Each person’s contract varies, so one person will have that meeting [this] week, and the other people will have it the following week,” she added.

The managing director said a letter was also written to explain what happened, and what would be the next step.

“The letter did not have anything to say I’m firing you. It says nothing to that effect. It just says that a procedure was not followed,” Myers-Hamilton said.

“It is regrettable that misinformation has been spread, causing unnecessary concern among our employees and stakeholders,” she said.

“We want to assure the public that SMA is committed to upholding integrity and transparency in all our operations,”she added.