BY DELVARDO EMMANUEL

Journal Staff Reporter

A $2.5 million industrial agreement was signed between the Water and Sewage Corporation (WSC) and the Water and Sewerage Management Union (WSMU) at the Office of the Prime Minster on Tuesday afternoon.

The Water and Sewerage Company concluded and signed an industrial agreement for the period July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2025. More than 86 middle managers at WSC will benefit from numerous amenities attached to this agreement.

“Through the signing of this 2022 to 2025 industrial agreement, we have sought to address issues such as performance management by aligning performance assessment of the individual manager with that of the corporation as a whole. Further, we have ensured equity across the corporation, such that employees and managers alike are duly incentivized and compensated in accordance with it with their objectively measured performance,” WSMU President Montgomery Miller said.

“For the long-term sustainability of water and sewage, we have agreed to a group medical insurance premium cost sharing proposal for new employees, to ensure the ongoing provision of affordable medical insurance for all of our members. With respect to the hiring and promotion of staff, through the provisions of this new industrial agreement, we have sought to strengthen and establish more objective standards and limits.”

This current agreement will also address the way in which managers will be handled at WSC as it relates to transfers and the prevention of unfair treatment.

“Regarding the transfer of managers, we have, jointly, with WSC greatly enhanced the provisions such that malicious and unjustified transfers are explicitly barred and actionable. We have learned from the lessons of the past and herein have sought to proactively address the same. With respect to short term employment contracts, we have sought to narrowly define the terms of reference for such engagements and to ensure the duly capable current management employees are assigned to short term experts.”

Mr. Miller added that, “In order to facilitate the transfer and retention of expert knowledge within WSC, these examples, along with the appropriate adjustment of workers, sort of debt of over decades old allowances and related provisions have sought to close the remuneration and benefits gap for WSC management employees in order to protect and preserve employee retention into the future.”

Present at that signing was Minster of Works and Utilities Alfred Sears, who noted to the significance of the current signing as the last agreement for WSMU was signed back in 2013. Mr. Sears said with agreement signed, the cooperation can now be at a place of industrial harmony and all efforts will be focused on increased efficiency.

“As part of this process, all staff from the executives to the middle managers to the non-managers will now have updated, modernized job descriptions and objective performance-based scope cards with regular engagement, coaching, training and annual performance assessments,” Mr. Sears added.

The utility minister pointed out that the company is well on its way to becoming a world class water and sanitation utility that is financially viable and operates in full compliance with all environment and regulatory standards.