Gumbs on the defensive over strike at new kitchen

MARIGOT--President Frantz Gumbs was forced to explain the Collectivit�'s handling of the teething issues plaguing the new central kitchen following Monday's strike action and his subsequent radio interviews.

"The new kitchen is a modern tool that naturally takes a few days to be up and running normally," he insisted in a release. "There is no way such a complex tool could work perfectly from the first day. Most of the cooks do understand that."

"Moreover, the issue of workers being displaced has nothing illegal in it. The president has all rights to reorganise the services of the Collectivit�. The workers concerned were proposed new positions. Some of them have adopted an attitude of systematic refusal for reasons that are not clear to me."

He acknowledged there was an incident during which two workers received electrical shocks from appliances in the kitchen, but said it is totally false to say that authorities "refused to fix the problem thus far."

"The workers concerned by the incident did not request any help from the union. The incident was dealt with adequately by management and the incident is considered a closed case. Those that came to work at 3 or 4 in the morning can attest to the fact that they volunteered to come to work at those early hours in the morning, out of love of the job and concern for the children who expected to be fed. Management at no time requested workers to come in earlier."

"I also totally deny that there was any "gas leak." The equipment in the new kitchen has a security system that shuts it down as soon as the pressure is too low. The problem is being dealt with by the company who has built the equipment. The involvement of the union cannot fix the problem. Authorities have the legal and moral obligation to fix it and will do so. It is not documents requested by the union that could have avoided any incident. The information given by the representatives of the Union is therefore totally misleading."

The President also gave the timetable of meeting requests that led up to today's action.

"On Monday September 12 around 8:30am I was informed that representatives of local UGTG were waiting to meet the President without any prior notice. The Union also requested the presence of president of CTOS. When asked the purpose of the request, the answer was, if I understood well, "the protocol" of accord signed in October 2010."

"Considering the fact that no meeting was requested in advance and that I had other engagements that morning, I proposed to meet that same afternoon at 2:30.

It is important to note that those representatives did not make any prior formal request for any meeting and that they did not request any authorisation to leave their work positions. At that time and for that day they are to be considered as having abandoned their work positions."

"Nevertheless, we did go over some points of grievances in the presence of the president of the CTOS. At the end of these exchanges we agreed that we would meet by the end of the same week to go over the "Protocol d'Accord" of October 2010. The Union requested the presence of both Presidents and a rendezvous was set for Friday 16th at 11 o'clock.

"I was informed early Friday morning that representatives of UGTG together with the union membership were at the Collectivit� waiting. Around 11:00am, the local leader of the union informed me that the representatives, together with the membership, expected me in the legislative room. I refused to meet the representatives in the presence of their membership, because:

1 - Neither representatives nor members of the union had requested authorisation to leave their work positions.

2 - Members of the union present could not be on a legal strike since no prior notice was given of any strike. So therefore they were in an "abandon de poste" situation.

3 - My wish and sincere intention, was to meet the representatives of the personnel, to go over the "accord." I could not understand the necessity of the presence of the membership of the union, unless that membership did not trust their representatives. Or is it the belief that "physical pressure" was the key to success of any talks?

I am willing to receive the representatives of the Union at any time to go over the protocol of accord of October 2010. No strike is justified at this point in time."

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/20834-gumbs-on-the-defensive-over-strike-at-new-kitchen.html

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