Hospitals coping for now with industrial action at NWC, Tufton says

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says public hospitals are coping for now with the industrial action taken by National Water Commission (NWC) workers. 

But he says if the strike action, which started yesterday, continues into a third day then there could be problems. 

Negotiations between the NWC and the five unions representing workers at the state agency are to resume later this morning after 10 hours of talks failed to result in a resolution of their dispute. 

It's not clear whether the more than 2,000 workers will continue industrial action over outstanding salary issues. 

Hospitals are expected to have water in storage to cover at least three days as part of their contingencies for emergencies.

"We've gone one day of the NWC shutdown and we should be able to cope today but as of tomorrow, it would become fairly uncertain. So, we certainly hope that there is a resolution if not then we'll have to put provisions in place for trucking," the health minister told The Gleaner this morning.  

The Gleaner reported today that the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), the island's premier health facility, had used up 40 per cent of its two-day water supply only hours after NWC workers walked off the job, while the National Chest Hospital in eastern St Andrew was said to be running low.

A few health centres have run out of water but arrangements have been made for them to get additional supplies, Tufton said. He said he's awaiting a report to provide further details on the affected facilities. 

"As of now, we are not as badly affected," he said. 

Regarding schools, the minister said the ministry is currently assessing the public health impact of the water lock-off on schools before making any recommendations to the Education Ministry. 

More than 500,000 NWC customers have been affected by the strike. 

The Labour Ministry said the parties are to continue talks today at 10 a.m., at the ministry's North Street, Kingston office. 

The workers are protesting over an outstanding reclassification exercise that stretches back to 2008, as well as the ongoing public sector compensation review.

Labour Minister Karl Samuda told Parliament yesterday that water had been restored to a "great degree" but dozens of persons have complained on social media that up to this morning they were without the commodity. 

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