TWO OF three vice-presidents of the Jamaica Urban Transit Co. (JUTC) have resigned effective December 31, 2002, amid a management review of operations there.
Dr. Alton Fletcher, vice-president of Human Resources, and John Campbell, vice-president of Engineering Services, are no longer with the company, but JUTC says that the resignations have not affected operations so far.
Errol Lee, public relations officer at the JUTC, confirmed the resignations yesterday, but denied reports that JUTC president, Sterling Soares, was also on his way out. He said that the two men resigned on their own accord and were not forced out by the company.
Dr. Fletcher replaced Helen Byles in July last year as vice-president for Human Resources.
The audit was ordered by Mr. Soares and painted the company as technically insolvent. Apart from the daily losses of $3.6 million suffered by the JUTC, it found that the negative worth of the company in February 2002 stood at $1.13 billion. This was in addition to an accumulated deficit of $2.63 billion to February 2002, total revenue that would be collected over 19 months.
AUDIT FINDINGS
The audit also showed that weaknesses in the recruitment process had resulted in the employment of persons in positions for which they were not qualified.
Five Swedish consultants were also brought in to assess the operations of the JUTC following the Peat Marwick report. The report when released should contain, among other things, recommendations on how to stem daily losses suffered by the company.
The JUTC has also been described as top heavy and it is expected that the foreign consultants will recommend a trimming of the management staff. They are also expected to make recommendations regarding the recruitment of regular staff.