Tugboat workers restive, warn of industrial action
Published:Friday | February 11, 2022 | 9:31 AM
Asha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Some of the 24-member crew at tugboat service provider Ocean J Towing Company are enraged by the drawn-out negotiations and have threatened to take industrial action this Saturday.
The workers are pressing the administration to meet their demands.
The negotiations have been ongoing since 2019.
Ocean Group Incorporation, the parent company of Ocean J Towing, which has operated in Kingston since 2018, is based in Quebec, Canada.
The company offers services such as towing, dredging, and ship maintenance.
The Kingston Port Authority, in 2018, signed a 10-year contract with the corporation, entrusting it to service the Port of Kingston, taking the tug boat operations from the Caribbean Maritime University.
However, the crew members assert that this is the final straw and have expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of the bargaining process.
Upset
The company is reportedly forcing employees to sign away their right to strike, as stipulated in The Labour Relations Industrial Disputes Act, which regulates employer-employee relations and establishes an industrial disputes tribunal for the resolution of disputes.
The legislation also establishes boards of inquiry to investigate industrial disputes and matters relating to labour relations or economic conditions.
“We are fed up now, we don't have any more patience with them. Obviously, they are in some delay tactics,” said an employee who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Gleaner on Thursday.
The worker claimed that the company has been trying to steamroll them into submission.
A disputed contractual clause, they say, suggests that employees who take any form of industrial action will be considered to have abandoned their job and should not return to work.
“They are trying to bully us into accepting what they offer ... and treat us in a condescending way so we have decided that we are going to take action this weekend,” an employee said.
Workers plan to slow down port activities and disrupt the smooth and efficient flow of ships calling into the Port of Kingston.
No Comment
Director of Public Affairs Philippe Filion, from the parent company in Canada, refused to confirm or deny the existence of the clause.
He did not reveal whether the corporation intended to try to resolve the dispute.
"To be honest, the only line the company will release about this is [that] the discussion continue[s] and we cannot comment about the actual discussion," he said, describing the company as being in a "silent mode".
St. Patrice Ennis, president of the Union of Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel, said he was sympathetic to the workers' restiveness.
"Undoubtedly, the workers are disgruntled because of the long, drawn-out process,” he said.
“For quite some time now the situation has been volatile,” he told The Gleaner, adding that he would not be surprised if the workers went on strike.
He further stated that there are no signs of an immigrant agreement any time soon.
“The workers believe that the company is being vexatious and wants to punish them instead of trying to find a way to resolve and abide by what is stipulated in the Jamaican law,” Ennis added.
Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.