Dionne Rose, Staff ReporterTHE JAMAICA Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) should be meeting with Prime Minister P.J. Patterson next month in an effort to end an impasse between the 12-member Confederation and Minister of Labour, Horace Dalley.
The unions wrote a letter to Mr. Patterson last week requesting his intervention. Clive Dobson, president of the National Workers Union (NWU) told The Gleaner, "The Prime Minister has responded and there are some tentative dates for the meeting in the month of February."
On Wednesday, union representatives made good on threats to boycott the Labour Advisory Committee (LAC) meeting, which is a tripartite industrial relations review body, comprising representatives of the ministry, the Jamaica Employers' Federation and the JCTU. It meets occasionally to iron out labour issues.
LAC MEETING POSTPONED
On Thursday, Gerrald McDaniel, public relations manager at the ministry confirmed that the LAC meeting was postponed indefinitely because there were not enough persons present to conduct the meeting. Mr. McDaniel said: "There was no correspondence from the unions to state that they were boycotting the meeting. We only heard of it through the media."
The Gleaner understands that only representatives from the employers and the ministry had confirmed attendance for the meeting. Meanwhile, two other union representatives who had initially confirmed attendance at the meeting on Tuesday called to say that they would not be available.
The boycott of the LAC would have, "a significant effect on a lot of things," Mr. Dobson said. The NWU president, however, ex-pressed confidence that the prime minister's intervention would resolve this impasse.
He said: "The Prime Minister will not allow this thing to sink any further. What we are looking for is a solution."
NOT THE FIRST RUN-IN
The unions and Dalley had fallen out after a January 7 court decision to fine medical technologists accused of illegally going on strike in January 2003. They also publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the handling of labour relations issues.
But this is not the first time that Dalley and unions have had run-ins. Late last year, the minister and the unions were at odds over a review of the Employment Termination and Redundancy Payment Act by Dr. Noel Cowell of the University of the West Indies, without any consultation with the unions or bringing it to the LAC. The issue was, however, later resolved at a retreat which was called by the minister in November last year.
