CALLING?THE DISMISSAL of nearly 400 workers attached to the Drainage Department “shabby, shameful and disgraceful”, the National Union of Public Workers’ (NUPW)?general secretary Dennis Clarke has also hinted that some of the terminations might also not even be aboveboard.
Clarke, speaking after an almost two-hour long meeting at the union’s Dalkeith, St Michael headquarters, said given the way the terminations were done, the union now found itself with its “back against the wall” as it seeks an urgent meeting with officials of the Ministry of Environment and the Services Commission.
No date has been given for that meeting.
“You have workers who are currently on vacation, and who have had their services terminated while they are on vacation leave,” Clarke said.
“You have workers who would have worked for a year and who would not have received vacation pay or vacation, so how are you going to reconcile that?” he asked. “We need to get an understanding from Services Commission how can you terminate people while they are on vacation leave,” he added.
Noting that many of the workers were on fixed term contracts, the general secretary said there was an expectation that once those contracts came to an end, the employee would continue working and any new fixed term contract would be back dated.
