Chairman of the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA), Senator Rudy Grant, says he is confident of reaching a deal with workers over the stoppage of overtime as well as the introduction of a new any-five-out-of- seven-days work-week policy, even after staff rejected this proposal last week.
It was the third time that staff rejected the suggestion since the issue was first raised last December.
This afternoon Grant told Barbados TODAY that the SSA was far from ready to throw in the towel on the talks, and even though it seems that both sides are unwilling to budge, he is confident that a middle ground can be reached with the workers’ bargaining agent, the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW).
“The reason that you engage in dialogue is because you have a measure of confidence that you would be able to reach an amicable conclusion. Those discussions with the NUPW are ongoing,” said Grant, who opted not to reveal details about how the SSA intends to get workers to budge from their position.
In a recent interview with Barbados TODAY, NUPW Assistant General Secretary Wayne Waldron, revealed that during a meeting last Tuesday, workers were adamant that weekends must remain reserved for their social life and family commitments.
Waldron said that while the workers have acknowledged Government’s prerogative to stop overtime, they are concerned by what they see as an attempt to unilaterally change the terms of their employment. According to the NUPW spokesman, the workers contend that they are more than able to service the garbage collection needs of the island within the current Monday to Friday work period, providing Government keeps its promise to replenish the complement of garbage trucks.
According to reports last month, which factored in the importation of two new trucks, the SSA only had 17 trucks to service over 150 routes. There have been reports that the shortfall in trucks have been supplemented by using private waste haulers. This has led the NUPW to question the logic of the SSA’s overtime stoppage argument, as the union contends that it was significantly costlier to pay haulers than it is to pay overtime to the workers.
This afternoon Grant refused to respond to workers’ argument on the use of private haulers, stating only, “that argument is within the domain of discussions and all I am going to say is that we continue to have our discussions with the NUPW. I would not want in anyway to have much of our engagement and discussions in public.”
However, the SSA Chairman attempted to dispel any suggestion that garbage collection in some areas was suffering as a result of the impasse. As a matter of fact, Grant made it clear that collections have improved in recent weeks.
“Be assured that the Sanitation Service Authority continues to take very seriously its mandate for the collection of garbage. Certainly, with the introduction of the two new trucks and
with the expectation of an additional five trucks coming, we would be redoubling our efforts with the collection of garbage,” he said.
colvillmounsey@barbadostoday.bb
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