Thank you for visiting WWW.BELGRAFIX.COM, "Grenada on the Internet, one byte at a time"

HOME	NOVEMBER 05th, 2005

"No money, no road".

This was the slogan chanted Tuesday by striking construction workers employed by Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) as they matched through the street of St. George's in protest action.

The workers were led by President-General of the powerful Technical Allied Workers Union (TAWU), Senator Chester Humphrey whose union is the bargaining agent for the just under 300 workers employed with CCC.

Sen. Humphrey admitted to reporters that the workers are officially on strike until their demands are met. He said that TAWU was forced Monday to call a work stoppage at all CCC sites because the workers were not given their retroactive pay on last Friday as previously agreed to with the employers.

He pointed out that on October 11, CCC entered into an agreement with the union in the presence of the Labour Commissioner for all workers to receive 10.33 percent increase in salary to take effect on October 14.

The agreement also called for retroactive pay due to workers who have been employed with the company from January 2003 to be paid by October 28. In addition, workers whose employment were terminated during a recent strike against the company would have their termination letters revoked and in lieu thereof would receive one week's pay.

Humphrey disclosed that without any notice to the Union, the company did not apply the increases on October 14. On inquiry, TAWU was allegedly told that the process could not be completed in time for the bank to make the payments due to workers. It was reported that the union accepted the explanation and a new date for implementation was set for the fortnight ending October 28.

Sen. Humphrey said that on October 28, not a single worker received payment, and dozens of union members not currently working but who worked during the period covered by the wage increases reported to the Company for retroactive pay and were turned down. He blamed CCC for the course of action taken by the union in the current situation.

He recalled that in the past, the Union had a dispute with the company and that CCC conveniently dragged it out until the road work was completed and there was little or no possibility of the union forcing a settlement by industrial action. Sen. Humphrey was adamant that TAWU will not allow this to happen again.

He stressed that the strike will continue until the Ministry of Labour convenes a meeting with both parties involved to resolve the impasse, or the demands of the union are met.

CCC has been engaged in recent years with virtually all the major road construction projects including bridges that were awarded by the ruling New National Party (NNP) government of Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell.