Port Chairman Disses Union

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Thursday, 14 March 2013 02:30

By Everton Barnes

Antigua St. John's - One month after receiving a letter from the Antigua Trades and Labour Union seeking to resolve several critical employee issues, the chairman of the Antigua Port Authority, Greg Walter, is yet to acknowledge receipt of the latter, an action the union has deemed “disrespectful”.

Further, AT&LU Industrial Relations Officer Ralph Potter said this behaviour by the port chairman is nothing new. He described this as Walter’s general attitude toward the AT&LU and its officers - the legally recognised representative for about 50 percent of the workers at the Port Authority - as unacceptable.

“Walter has refused to respond to communications sent to him by the AT&LU going back for as much as a year,” Potter said. “This ought not to be the attitude of someone holding such a key position in the country as chairman of the Antigua Port Authority.”

The union official said Wednesday marked one month since the latest correspondence was dispatched to Walter, in which the union had indicated that it hoped to able to resolve the outstanding issues of early retirement and voluntary separation “within a month”.

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Based on Walter’s refusal to respond to the union, Potter said he is convening a meeting with his members employed by the port next Tuesday to discuss the way forward.

He said, “We will meet to discuss our next course of action. We feel that if we write the port chairman on an important issue that he ought to respond and respond in a timely manner. While I can’t anticipate what action the workers will decide to take, Chairman Walter would have no one else but himself to blame for whatever decision the workers make.”

With the AT&LU representing 50 percent of the staff, Potter was asked what support his union is receiving from the UPP-aligned Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union. He said a meeting between both unions was held in January to discuss joint approaches to the matter, but he is not happy with the way things worked out.”

Potter did not want to discuss the effectiveness of a strike or other industrial action should the AT&LU go it alone. Currently, the AT&LU represents office staff and crane operators, among others, but the stevedores fall under the umbrella of the ABWU.

Attempts to reach Walter or ABWU officials proved futile.

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