Workers at Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners were elated, following a meeting and announcements last week where two government ministers and a high ranking official of the new part-owners addressed them.
“Bwoy, mi feel better…Is like wi never sure of wi food til now,” said a member of the Mines Department, following the morning function, Wednesday, November 9, at the company’s sport complex in Discovery Bay.
The event was addressed by, among others, minister of finance and planning, Audley Shaw, minister of mining and transport, Mike Henry and CEO of Dada Holding, David D’Addario.
They all spoke about a commitment by the government and the new partners to develop the bauxite company. At the same time they sought to assure workers, contractors and creditors that the way forward seemed positive.
Staff, contractors and creditors at Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners were assured at the meeting that outstanding amounts in compensation and other payments owed to them will be made under agreement reached with new operators of the bauxite company, New Day.
Mr D’Addario told The Times, after the formalities, that earlier that morning he had met with workers and managers at Noranda and had a “positive” exchange of ideas.
New Day is a subsidiary of Dada Holding that has entered into a 25-year agreement with the Government of Jamaica which remains a minority partner.
NEXT CHAPTER
CEO of the company David D’Addario told workers, contractors and community leaders that there had almost been no agreement. In the end, he said “a fantastic stable long-term agreement” was arrived at through tough negotiations for which he credited the Government of Jamaica.
He praised the workers for “hanging in there” in the interim and said the new partners “intend on being part of the fabric of this community.” Mr D’Addario said that prior to his company’s involvement, there were some things that should have been done and people in the past had not lived up to their obligations, hence some of the issues that had to be dealt with and that had proved costly.
He said the new partners were going to “work with the government to be as profitable as possible.” Also, he said, New Day was “looking forward to the next chapter working with you (the workers) side by side, learning from you.”
The details of the agreement were outlined by government ministers Henry and Shaw who addressed the workers.
WHAT’S NEW
Mr Shaw for his part outlined details of payments to Government, including the agreement for the new majority owners to pay US$12 million in owed levy plus US$7 million in compensation to the workforce, suppliers and creditors. He said the agreement had saved jobs and provided several benefits to the country and the workers directly.
He dismissed arguments by the PNP Opposition who questioned the loss in levy payments. Mr Shaw said the government had not been collecting levy due at all the other bauxite companies. He mentioned ACOA that he said had not been paying on time and ALPART that started up last year with concessions on the levy. “What’s new?” Shaw asked.
He said what was new was that the Jamaican government now had a 17.3 percent stake in the refinery in Gramercy. He said jobs would increase, and profit sharing would expand as the company grew. Mr Shaw said the government’s involvement, the negotiations and the involvement of New Day had prevented the closing of the bauxite company that would have caused more issues in getting it up and running again.
He made a big appeal to the workers asking them for higher and higher levels of productivity. “Workers, I want you to give New Day higher and higher levels of productivity,” Shaw said to cheers. (blurb)
Although what was once Kaiser now has new owners who have taken over the operations for the last 14 days, the company is still called Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners, A Dada Holding.
The vote of thanks was given by general manager Antoine Liddell. “This is truly a great day in the history of this site,” he said. He thanked the workers for their support in the last six months to a year of challenging time that had now opened to a “bright future”.
There were several other officials at the event including from the ministries of mining and transport and finance as well as from the Jamaica Bauxite Institute. Chairman was Cliff Stone, former government minister and chairman of the Jamaica Bauxite Mining.
