Canceled Negotiations Frustrate Union Representing WMA, VIPA and Health Facilities, Risking Job Actions
John Vigueras, who serves as special representative to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Union, said on Monday that union members, working at several important public agencies, are fed up of their current wage conditions and are ready to participate in job action if they are not made whole soon.
2023-09-19 13:12:40 - VI News Staff
These members are employed at the Marine arm of the V.I. Port Authority; as security workers at several healthcare facilities, and law enforcement officers at the Waste Management Authority. He said a planned meeting for March 2023 with the OCB, led by chief negotiator Joss Springette, was canceled and has not been rescheduled due to the OCB's employee shortage. However, Mr. Vigueras stressed that this situation should not be used as an excuse to fail hundreds of employees.
"The Office of Collective Bargaining is always undermanned, understaffed, underfunded, and they've had a hard time to sit down and negotiate with us... Just to give you an example, this contract with the Waste Management Authority expired in 2019 — four years ago," he said. "We understand the situation with the funding and everything, but that cannot be the justification to not give the workers economic justice."
Security at the territory's hospitals is crucial public safety position. Law enforcement personnel working at the V.I. Waste Management Authority are also crucial, as are marine employees at VIPA, who are indispensable to the territory's cargo and freight operations.
As part of its negotiations, Mr. Vigueras said the union is seeking wage adjustment of 25 percent for its members, as well as backpay. The union also wants to ensure that the Office of Collective Bargaining and the V.I. Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) are fully funded and staffed.