Sugar sector turmoil if wage deal isn’t reached

There could be disruptions in the sugar industry if a wage deal is not hammered out between the Sugar Producers Federation (SPF) and several of the country's trade unions at a meeting at the Ministry of Labour on Wednesday.

Negotiations for a new wage contract for sugar workers employed to government and privately-owned factories have so far been rocky with the SPF refusing to budge from its offer of a 2.5% increase.

The offer has been rejected by the unions.

Vincent Morrison, President of the National Workers Union, says there will be problems if Wednesday's meeting ends in deadlock.

"We can't guarantee normality on the estates if we don't have a settlement or a reasonable offer that we can recommend to the workers. After (Wednesday's) discussions, we're going to be having a series of workers meeting across the estates and I would expect that if we don't have a decent offer to present to them, then anything can happen.

"We can very well have a vote from the workers to take industrial action," he said.

source: radiojamaica