You have been given an excerpt of a verbatim text of the opening phase of the negotiation between the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU) and Cable and Wireless (

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Excerpt of Verbatim Notes of Wage Negotiation

Meeting

Cable and Wireless and the University and Allied

Workers Union

Tuesday, July 4, 2000

Present were:

Representing the Company (Cable and Wireless)

Mrs. Jean Blackstock (Chairman) – Vice President HRD

Mr. George Reid – Industrial Relations Officer Mr. Edward Samuda – Industrial Relations Officer

Representing the Union

Mr. Lambert Brown – 1st Vice President

Mr. Garfield Harvey Ms. Andrea Barret

Several workers/delegates

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1. Chairman: Can we make a start? Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, I just

want to start by apologising for the fact that the meeting on May

30 had to be postponed. That was due entirely to me; I had surgery

and as a result I was sick for a number of days and had to be off.

But we are now ready to proceed with the discussions. Before we

actually begin the discussions I just want to check whether you

actually received all the Minutes of the previous meetings. You

have received copies?

2. Mr. Brown: I have one copy for the 12th May. Normally we would get more

copies but I don’t know if this is by directive.

3. Chairman: So you received two copies?

4. Mr. Harvey: I think we got one when you were away.

5. Chairman: Are there any amendments, adjustments that you want to make to

the minutes?

6. Mr. Brown: At this point no, because Yvonne is not here and I don’t want to

conclude any discussions on it.

7. Chairman: So we will come back to that. Now, at the last meting on May 16

there were a number of general items that were raised that you

asked us to respond to and I would just like to take the opportunity

to respond to them before we actually go into the negotiations

process. The first issue was in relation to the insurance document

and you had asked for information to be made available. I

understand that you met that afternoon, you had a discussion and

the documents were actually received. Can you now confirm this?

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8. Mr. Brown: Which document was received?

9. Chairman: We actually sent a letter dated May 17th

10. Mr. Harvey: We have a copy of the insurance thing from ages ago.

11. Mr. Brown: No, I have not seen this letter, George, I have not seen this. If you

sent it you must have sent it somewhere else.

12. Mr. Reid: I delivered this one to your office personally on the same date to be

exact.

13. Chairman: But Mr. Harvey, you got a copy?

14. Mr. Harvey: Yes.

15. Chairman: So I can ask you, Garfield, based on what you received if that

concludes the matter?

16. Mr. Harvey: We still have concerns. First of all, we know that the insurance

certificate – the one insurance certificate goes for the period. So

you would have bought the policy in 1977 and that is the certificate

that would cover so many years, but we would love to know the

current breakdown of the schedule. We were told by Mr. Brown

that the company covered the vehicles comprehensively but we

have copies of the certificates which are actually third party and

we have concerns about that as well – Mr. Al Brown from Risk

Management. Mr. Al Brown from Risk Management told us that

the coverage was comprehensive but we have copies of the

documents that say third party, so we have concerns about that.

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17. Mr. Brown: That is why we can’t trust anything the company gives us about the

insurance, and I want to strengthen Garfield’s point about the 1977

document which speaks about Jamaica Telephone Company and

that company has since changed from JTC to TOJ to now, Cable

and Wireless. So we need to see the document which shows the

changes from year to year in the coverage for the employees,

because on the basis of what Mr. Al Brown told us we can’t trust

anything the company says on the insurance thing. Worker has had

to sue co-worker in a case where both are in a vehicle and one is

injured, and the company is treating the insurance of employees as

if it does not matter and as if the employees should be at war with

each other. We can’t accept that. So we are not satisfied with the

documentation that has come from the company. You say this

letter is it. That is not good enough; we need to see the

documentation which says for 1999 to 2000, this is the coverage

and this is the agreement with the insurance company. Just like

when the police stop you on the road and want to see updated

documents, we want to see the updated documents.

18. Chairman: Can I suggest that we arrange another forum with Al Brown?

19. Mr. Brown: Absolutely not!

20. Chairman: But he is the person who has the documentation.

21. Mr. Brown: He doesn’t have to come and look on us to give us the

documentation; he can send it by fax or e-mail or any other type of

mail, but he doesn’t have to come and give us because right now

what he has come here and said to us we have a problem with,

because the company does not comprehensively insure the vehicles

– at least not those driven by the technicians.

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22. Mr. Harvey: Unless they comprehensively insure some and third party some.

23. Mr. Brown: Don’t even get into that. They don’t comprehensively insure the

vehicles yet they communicate that to us.

24. Mr. Harvey: On the day in question when Mr. Al Brown spoke to us he gave us

this copy of a page – No. 26 to be exact – which came out of a

Cable and Wireless Risk Management Insurance ‘something’. I

don’t know it it’s a book. We have a difficulty with this because

we are saying it is only a page and we don’t believe it is the sum

total of the document; obviously there must be something

excluded. I don’t know why we couldn’t see the whole thing but it

is just one page that covers personal insurance and accidents. We

have a difficulty because we don’t know what came before and

what comes after; this is all we got. So we have a difficulty with

that as well.

25. Chairman: I have no information in relation to the group insurance.

26. Mr. Brown: So we can pass that. The company is again disrespecting the union

and the employees it represents because we expect that when we

ask for legitimate information we would get it, and this request was

made from May.

27. Chairman: The request was made and we sent you the document on May 17th.

28. Mr. Brown: You sent a letter saying we have insurance, whether it is $40,000

maximum, it now goes to twice salary but we don’t see the

supporting documentation for this. And who it is coming from?

The same Al Brown from Risk Management who came and told us

the vehicles were comprehensively insured. So how can we take

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your word when we discover that the vehicles were not

comprehensively insured? We need the documentation to convince

us what you are saying is so.

29. Chairman: So clearly the matter is still outstanding. That is noted.

30. Mr. Brown: Whatever words you want to use, but I am saying it shows

disrespect and lack of regard for the workers and union in the non-

provision of information.

31. Chairman: I would ask however, if on May 17 you did not get the complete

information you should have called and indicated so that we can

facilitate the process.

32. Mr. Brown: We asked for the information and you deliberately did not send it

and you say we should have called and say you didn’t send it to

us? We know the game the company playing; and all we are saying

we will play the game with you.

33. Delegate: I don’t think we need to ask for documentation; I think what we

need is an updated life insurance policy for the workers because

obviously there is none in place. So what we need is an updated

life insurance policy because the one they have is from 1977.

Policemen are nor being insured for $4 million; what about Cable

and Wireless workers?

34. Mr. Harvey: They will tell you, you don’t work in volatile areas and you are not

subject to attacks from gun men.

35. Delegate: But the job description says you must be prepared to work in

volatile areas and you will be subject to abuse.

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36. Chairman: Okay, the next issue that was raised was the overage, and George

will explain the current position.

37. Mr. Reid: After the last meeting we got in touch with both Mobile and

Customer Services in respect to the highest denomination and the

fact that we have a draft position which was agreed during I think

two negotiations ago –

38. Delegate: It is not a draft position that was agreed.

39. Mr. Reid: It was a provision we had, and it was brought to the company’s

attention and the union’s attention and we agreed during that

negotiation that those provisions would be used in relation to cash

shortages. I don’t know if I am saying anything different. We have

now received confirmation that the $1000 being the highest

denomination will be the denomination used. (Applause)

40. Mr. Brown: As of when?

41. Mr. Reid: As of July 1st.

42. Mr. Brown: The cashiers have been told this? Any cashier here ahs been told

this?

— Off the record —

43. Mr. Reid: If you will allow me to finish; I will admit to you that it has not yet

been communicated but it will be communicated to Customer

Service.

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44. Mr. Harvey: I have a problem with that. We have an agreement and the

agreement is from four years ago. The new denomination came in

from April and I don’t see any reason why you have to wait to

have an effective date, because I am aware of people who have had

shortages since then.

45. Mr. George: When it comes in July we will –

46. Mr. Harvey: But I am saying to you, George, people have had shortages since

the new currency came in because people told me, a supervisor

called me about it.

47. Mr. Reid: But the procedure calls for investigation of the matter and then a

decision is taken as to what should be done.

48. Mr. Harvey: The supervisor herself was not sure what would be done about it.

There should not be any delay in it. So I am now going to find out

from those people what took place and if is a case where people

had to pay out of their pockets I would expect them to be

reimbursed.

49. Mr. Reid: In what circumstances?

50. Mr. Brown: Anybody who had to pay.

51. Mr. Reid: The whole question of whether you pay or not pay comes out of an

investigation.

52. Mr. Harvey: I cannot agree to pay a July date.

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53. Mr. Brown: And the notes will record that the union’s response is that any

employee who suffered because they were penalized for shortages

over $500 and under $1000, we expect a review of all such cases

and that corrective measures will be taken, and if it means

refunding the employees then the employees will be refunded.

54. Chairman: And that is something that has to be discussed with the

management team in those areas.

55. Mr. Brown: So can we check our areas to find out what cashiers had overages –

and just use April as a start, and you give me the list of names of

they had to pay back. So we will get a report from the company on

that.

56. Chairman: So you have completed that one.

57. Mr. Brown: We expect to get a follow up from you.

58. Chairman: It has to be discussed with the various management teams. The

company made a decision consistent with the policy and any issues

arising from that we will deal with on a one and one basis.

59. Mr. Brown: It is not a one and one contract we have. The company has an

obligation to make sure the management knows the contract and

one clause of the contract speaks to the highest denomination, and

if that is so then the management automatically ought to have

implemented it. But typical, everything in Cable and Wireless has

to come from the top of management. So we are saying anybody

who had a problem and paid, we expect the company will

automatically correct it. If somebody is over paid, you draw it from

the employees pay and make the adjustment. So in the same way

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we are going to check on our side to see if there is any fall out in

the cracks that you are not aware of and bring that to your

attention. But this is something the company had an obligation to

do, to implement the agreement. You say this will be done on July

1st yet two cashiers are here don’t hear about it yet – which says

the company is a joke company when it comes to decisions to be

carried out quickly, decisions which affect the workers – but let us

carry on because we have more substantial issues.

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