Passengers disembarking JUTC bus

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC

– Drivers and conductors at the state-run Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) ended their two-day strike on Saturday after an agreement was brokered to delay the date on which some 250 workers will be laid off.

There is, however, confusion as to the new date for the terminations. The unions say no new date has been set but the JUTC insists that the effective date is now Wednesday instead of last Friday.

"The layoff no longer holds. It has been pushed back indefinitely," said Danny Roberts, president of the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE).

But a senior JUTC official reportedly told the Sunday Observer that the agreement signed Saturday was for the company to pay the workers up to June 11 and not a day beyond, during which time they will not be allowed back at work.

Meanwhile, Roberts said the unions will also be sending a letter to the JUTC board requesting that an interim president be put in place immediately, freeing up the board chairman, Douglas Chambers, to address policy issues and allow for the president to relate directly to the workers.

There has been tension between Chambers and workers over what the employees say is his management style. On Friday night a meeting at the Ministry of Labour, reportedly ended abruptly when JUTC workers allegedly threatened to shoot Chambers.

The workers walked off the job Friday to protest a decision to send home 250 workers. Bus depots across the capital, Kingston and the neighbouring parish of St. Catherine closed their doors Friday, forcing thousands of Jamaicans to find alternative means of transportation.

The workers said many were not notified of the lay-offs until they showed up to work on the staff bus at 3:00 am Friday. The angry workers said their grouse was not only about the lay-offs but the deductions which were taken from their salaries but have not been paid over to the respective government institutions.

CMC/vd/2008