Almost a quarter of V.I.Water and Power Authority employees on St. Croix called in sick Thursday morning in what WAPA officials regard as an unannounced job action, according to WAPA officials. About 66 of St. Croix’s 270 employees called in sick at the beginning of the workday, and all those who called in are members of the Utility Workers Union of America Local 602, which represents the rank-and-file WAPA employees, WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. said in a statement.
Hodge said the union has not told management, and he is uncertain as to why the employees staged a sick-out.
“I cannot imagine that it would be an issue of contract negotiations since UWUA Local 602 employees are still negotiating a wage re-opener on their existing five-year contract, which expires in June 2013,” Hodge said. “Negotiations are going well. We are not at an impasse and have not been notified by the union otherwise. Once an agreement is signed, employees will receive retroactive payments to July 1,” Hodge said.
Union members have said millions of dollars due WAPA from the central government is a major culprit behind Thursday’s job action and WAPA’s inability to give employees all they desire, Hodge said.
“I am dumbfounded by this for two reasons,” he said. “First, of the $11.4 million in receivables owed to WAPA, the past due amount owed by central government, excluding streetlights is ($1 million). It is the $4.8 million owed for the streetlights and the $4.1 million owed by the instrumentalities that make up the substantial portion of the receivables. Secondly, a recurring obligation for the authority, such as that of payroll, cannot be satisfied by a one-time infusion of cash.”
All WAPA employees are essential employees and are expected to report to work daily in order to provide the best possible service to water and power customers, Hodge said. “We anticipate that all 600 WAPA employees who are scheduled to report to work tomorrow will report on time and give their very best effort to the jobs they are paid to do,” he said.
The WAPA work action is the second unannounced sick-out by unionized government workers in the last week before next Tuesday’s general election. On Tuesday morning, a number of V.I. Port Authority Marine Division employees did not report to work, creating a few hours of chaos as the Port Authority struggled to arrange alternative tenders for arriving cruise ships. Workers returned to work Tuesday afternoon after a noontime discussion with Lt. Gov. Gregory R. Francis.
After Tuesday’s action, deJongh-Francis campaign manager Robert O’Connor issued a statement saying the work actions were campaign-related.
"It is widely known now that Mapp and his supporters were behind yesterday’s disruption as well as other planned disruptions within the workforce between now and Election Day,” O’Connor wrote. O’Connor did not offer evidence supporting that conclusion. Gubernatorial challenger Ken Mapp sent out a statement in response hotly disputing O’Connor’s allegation.
“The incumbent has become so desperate that he is now dreaming up conspiracy theories to explain his failed leadership,” Mapp said, calling the claims “baseless,” in his denial.
Although the timing is curious, Port Authority employees say their dispute is about pay and work issues, not the campaign, and made no mention of either deJongh or Mapp when asked what the Tuesday work action was about.
A port employee told the Source Wednesday that many nonmanagement employees in the Marine Division are troubled by the lack of resolution with their contract. The Marine Division employees are represented by the Seafarers International Union of North America AFL-CIO (SIU). It has been four years since their contract expired, and many of the employees affected make less than $25,000 annually and have not received a raise or any bonus in the last four years, the employee said.
