Headlines:
| Former Wray & Nephew workers protest redundancy |
|
|
| Monday, 22 December 2008 | |
 Police were out in their numbers Monday morning trying to
maintain order outside the gates of Rum manufacturers Wray and Nephew in Kingston.From as early as 6:30am, unionised members of the Engineering Department, some of the 46 workers who were laid off last week, picketed the company to bring attention to their plight. The angry former employees accuse the company of being heartless in letting them go a week before Christmas. They also feel the profits the company has made over the years should have been enough to cushion the effects of the global financial crisis and spared their jobs. "For years, Wray and Nephew (has been) a coming that has been making a lot of money ... they just decided one morning that we no longer need the Engineering Department so all of you guys go home ... persons with 10, 15 even 20 years of experience ... what are we to say to our families, a week before Christmas when we cant feed the babies," said one protestor. The former workers also accuse the company of union busting. According to Granville Valentine, Deputy Island Supervisor at the National Workers Union, the company breached labour regulations, by not properly consulting with the union about the lay-offs. "Strangely we had very little discussions in terms of the detail of such exercise only to realize on Thursday morning when the workers turned up for work, all of them were sent to a car park to stand in the sun ... that is disgraceful," he said. Mr. Valentine contends that the workers intend to continue to fight for a better deal from the company. The union is slated to meet with the management of Wray and Nephew on Tuesday. Noncompetitive Meanwhile, General Manager of Corporate Affairs for Wray and Nephew Greta Bogues, says the company had no choice but to make the cuts at this time. "It's been a business decision that the company had to take ... it's never a good time to separate from employees but we have had to look at our cost based on our revenues ... in areas that we've seen that we are noncompetitive, we have taken a business decision to outsource those particular services," said Ms Bogues, She added that out-sourcing these functions will result in 40 to 50% cost savings for the company. |