THE AUSJAM Mining Company has agreed to honour redundancy claims for workers who were displaced as a result of the company ceasing operations in December last year.
The decision followed a meeting with Horace Dalley, Minister of Labour and Social Security in Kingston on the issue.
"The company's management has agreed to honour all its obligations under the law with respect to redundancy entitlements and other termination payments owed to workers, as well as satisfy the stipulations of the IDT (Industrial Disputes Tribunal) ruling handed down on September 4, 2002," said the Ministry.
MINING OPERATIONS
A senior director in the Ministry's Pay and Conditions of Employment Branch (PCEB) will be visiting AUSJAM's mining operations in Pennants, Clarendon, starting on Monday, to help calculate the workers' entitlements.
The meeting Thursday was a follow-up to a three-hour meeting held last Friday with the United Union of Jamaica (UUJ) which represents the displaced workers. During those talks, the union accused the company's management of union busting and alleged that the plant was still in operation, contrary to the company's claim.
However, Paul Sailah, the owner of the gold-mining company, vehemently denied the claims, stating that AUSJAM was in the process of winding up its operations which should be completed in three to six weeks.
A total of 18 workers were displaced as a result of the closure.
Mr. Dalley is expected to schedule another meeting with the UUJ at the completion of the payment exercise.
