A steering committee, including representatives of the five unions representing employees of the National Water Commission (NWC), has been charged with the task of maintaining communication and consultation between the parties over the next six months.

This is one of several measures included in the package which was signed off on by representatives of the NWC and the unions – the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), the National Workers Union (NWU), the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers (JALGO), the Jamaica Union of Public Officers and Public Employees (JUPOPE) and the internal NWC Executive Staff Association – at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security on Wednesday.

OBSERVER ONLINE has learnt that this has become necessary as proposals for a compensation restructuring of the commission’s staff are dealt with over the next three months starting May 20, to be followed by another three months of implementation of the decisions of the committee.

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service is to produce a final organisational structure of the commission, as well as a report on a market survey that was conducted by private firms, for the May 20 meeting.

A consultant will also be appointed to complete a job evaluation exercise and make an alignment to the new compensation structure for the public sector.

These and other moves laid the foundation for Wednesday’s agreement between the parties which led to NWC staff ending a two-day strike and returning to work.

The strike resulted in hundreds of thousands of NWC customers across several parishes being affected by unscheduled lock offs.

The workers have been clamouring for a reclassification of their jobs and increased pay for several years.