WIOC matter referred to the Labour Department

The Labour Department has been asked to intervene in the matter surrounding the firing of a former operator in the Terminal Department at the West Indies Oil Company Limited (WIOC).
Ralph Potter, the Senior Industrial Relations Officer at the Antigua Trades and Labour Union (AT&LU), said the department would be seeking to have a meeting to discuss an amicable solution to the matter.
He said both parties have not been able to meet to properly ventilate the issue which started in June of this year.
“The matter is still unresolved, and we will be asking the Labour Department to reconvene so that we can have a hearing at that level and then we will see where we go from there,” the industrial relations officer said yesterday.
The union is seeking to address concerns over the sacking of Richard Samuel, a former WIOC operator and shop steward.
Samuel was terminated in June after giving over 16 years of service to the company.
In Samuel’s letter of termination, the company said it could no longer trust or rely on him.
However, his colleagues, who took industrial action in August to support him, said they believe his dismissal was the result of accusations of sabotage made against him by the company on several occasions.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)