Port workers in Grenada have downed tools in protest over the Grenada Port Authority’s failure to pay some EC$379,000.00 in Arbitration Awards.
This award was issued by an arbitration tribunal to the workers in 2007 and was ordered to be paid in three tranches, with a deadline of October 31st 2011 for payment of the final tranche.
A release from the Technical and Allied Workers Union (TAWU) on Thursday stated that not only has the Authority refused to pay the money, but it also refused to sign the agreement made between the Union, the Port Authority and a Joint Consultative Committee set up by the arbitrators.
According to the release, in addition to agreeing in principle to paying the arbitration award, the Port Authority, had also agreed to withdraw a matter before the court as part of the comprehensive agreement reached by the Joint Consultative Committee in 2010. To date that matter has not been withdrawn.
The work stoppage has affected all three of the island’s sea ports (St. George’s, St. Andrew’s and Carriacou), and the Union has said the action will continue indefinitely.©
