Ross Sheil and Omar Anderson, Gleaner Reporters
NEGOTIATIONS INVOLVING Air Jamaica pilots and the management of the airline resumes this morning at the Ministry of Labour.
The talks, which broke down on Monday and threatened to unravel a wage capping agreement between government and public sector unions, are back on track following the intervention of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.
During a meeting yesterday evening with representatives of the Bustamante Industrial Trades Union (BITU) and its affiliate, the Jamaica Airline Pilots Association; the Ministry of Labour; and the Ministry of Finance Mr. Patterson emphasised the urgency of the parties reaching an agreement.
According to a Jamaica House press statement issued last night, the Prime Minister advised the disputing parties that "failure to arrive at the agreement would entail very serious consequences for the future viability of the airline".
The Jamaica House statement said that Senator Dwight Nelson, president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), reiterated the BITU's support for the airline and agreed to the Prime Minister's proposal to return to conciliatory talks at the labour ministry.
On Monday evening an apparently, angry Senator Nelson, who is also senior vice-president of the BITU, announced that his union had abandoned the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with government. He urged member unions of the JCTU to follow suit.
He cited as reason for his action the decision by Air Jamaica to make redundant the remaining 180 pilots, following the redundancy of 40 earlier this year.
EMERGENCY MEETING THIS MORNING
Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies, who hammered out the MoU with unions early last year, is to meet with labour leaders in an emergency meeting this morning at the Finance Ministry.
Yesterday several industrial and labour groups said the MoU was too important to be jeopardised in the interest of individual groups.
President of the National Workers Union (NWU), Clive Dobson, told the The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre that the BITU should have consulted further.
"I think their matter should be heard but not in this matter where it is going to affect a number of workers who are below them (the pilots) in many ways," said Dobson.
Ruel Reid, president-elect of the Jamaica Teachers Association, said his union would listen to the BITU's case before making any decision: "I don't want to say that we are still committed, we need to wait until we have met with the BITU because this was an agreement we signed in solidarity."
Jacqueline Coke-Lloyd, executive director of the Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF), appealed for the BITU to reconsider, noting that the "parties need to take into consideration what is going to happen to Jamaica and the economy."
Beverly Lopez, president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), said the MoU was too important to be derailed by the Air Jamaica-JALPA dispute, saying it would be "a great shame" if the MoU became caught in this dispute.
