NAWASA’S STATEMENT ON THE STATUS OF CONTRACTED EMPLOYEES
Written by Jamila Lewis on December 15, 2017
The National Water and Sewerage Authority (NAWASA) remains committed to the regularization of its workers not yet fully confirmed, and is ready to do so, once the current process that has been in train is completed.
In that regard, we are in harmony with the Technical and Allied Workers union, with whom we have worked as a partner to deal with this complicated issue over the last few years.
We note the recent statements made in the public media by the Technical and Allied Workers Union regarding the issue, and their apparent dissatisfaction with the pace of the process for which they have given the Authority a deadline of December 15th 2017 to meet their demands in full with the implied threat of industrial action.
The Authority maintains its full commitment to the process of regularization, a position made known to the Unions at a conciliation meeting before the Labour Commissioner on November 13th, 2014. The parties however, were unable to arrive at an agreement as to the effective date of this permanent status and the matter was referred to the Minister of Labour.
At the request of the Minister of Labour, an opinion was provided by the Solicitor General dated April 2015, which later was rejected by the Union with a recommendation from the Minister for the matter to be tabled for Arbitration.
NAWASA and the UNIONS met at mediation on July 20th 2016, where they restated their respective positions and once again NAWASA indicated that the only issue at hand was the date of effectiveness of the permanent status.
NAWASA’s current position is that employees who meet the established criteria should have their status regularized at the expiration of their current contract.
NAWASA maintains that TAWU’s position of effecting permanency from the date of the first contract is unreasonable and unsustainable.
The Authority hopes that both parties can come to a fair and realistic solution in the interest of the employees and the organization.
The Board of Directors and Management take the matter of staff remuneration and also the future of its employees very seriously. Most notable are the ongoing efforts to restructure the existing pension arrangement, the sustainability of which is of major concern. NAWASA remains committed to ensuring a speedy resolution to the current impasse.
NAWASA…Committed to meeting customers’ needs
