CLARENDON BAUXITE WORKERS ARE WORLD LEADERS

CLARENDON BAUXITE WORKERS ARE WORLD LEADERS

Prime Minister Bruce Golding has praised workers at Jamalco for beating the odds and rising above adverse conditions to make their organization one of the most productive Bauxite/Alumina plants in the world.

"You would never know how close Jamalco came to closure. Alcoa sent a representative to Jamaica to formally advise me of their intention to close the plant ....We worked with them and eventually they confirmed to me that Jamalco would continue full production. The greatest tribute must be paid to the workers. Without the kind of performance that they turned out, all of the efforts would have failed. On the second of June they had the highest daily production rate in their history".

The Prime Minister used this tribute to the 50-year old Clarendon institution to close his presentation at the Town Hall meeting in May Pen on September 23. He also made special mention of Jamalco's General Manager Jerome Maxwell for his exceptional leadership during the worst slump in the bauxite/alumina industry caused by the current global economic downturn.

Mr. Golding said of the Jamalco employees, "They have demonstrated that Jamaicans can run an efficient alumina plant and the kind of efficiency that we have seen there is what can be taken to the other plants when the industry begins to recover...They (Jamalco) are now in the (Alcoa) top three in terms of their level of industry. That miraculous turnaround is due to the quality of the workers who have demonstrated that with all the problems that we have, like Usain Bolt, we can still be the best in the world."