NWRHA salaries late as payroll workers protest

The workers are back at work, but they are also refusing to work overtime.

The NWRHA has placed advertisements this week advising that salaries would be paid on Monday, but in a release yesterday, NWRHA Communications Manager, Danielle Jones, said while support has come from the financial sector, it is likely that some of the 2,300 employees may not be able to access their salaries until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Workers in the Payroll Department have been reporting ill with a range of ailments — bronchitis, skin irritation and sores in the nostrils, which they suspect were being caused by their work environment.

The Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (Cariri) was called in by the NWRHA last year, and an investigation was conducted. Newsday was informed that recommendations were made in an "initial report" presented last August. A worker contacted Newsday on Wednesday complaining that the NWRHA has not followed up the issue, and the PSA had been meeting the management about the problem for a long time. He said payroll workers have been advised to remove themselves from the area in accordance with the Industrial Relations Act, but they were sent disciplinary letters calling on them to explain their absence from duty. They had until 4 pm yesterday to do so.

Jones said the NWRHA received preliminary results from Cariri on the air quality assessment at the NWRHA headquarters. It indicated that the volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide were "well within international guidelines." Jones said the NWRHA has put systems in place to improve the flow of a/c within the next few days. She said payroll staff walked off the job last Friday and were told by a PSA representative not to return until Tuesday, "thereby affecting the processing of payroll."