Terms to end the strike at the power company were signed yesterday but some workers are refusing to accept the agreement even as their walk out slashed electricity supply on the Essequibo Coast and interrupted water services.

Guyana Power and Light (GPL) management is demanding that workers return to work prior to the commencement of conciliation agreed to by the parties and due to begin on Monday.

A release from GPL yesterday reiterated that the industrial action by both junior and senior staff at all of the company's locations had adversely affected power generation and the ability to respond quickly to reports of faults in the distribution system. According to the release, up to midday yesterday all power stations in the Essequibo region at Bartica, Leguan, Wakenaam and Anna Regina were inactive. Skeleton crews were manning stations at Onverwagt, West Berbice; Versailles, West Demerara; Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara and Kingston and Sophia in the city.

To compound the situation, one of the generating sets at the Versailles station apparently developed a problem yesterday morning and was likely to affect customers between Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara and Look Out, Parika on the East Bank of Essequibo during peak evening hours until it was rectified. Engineers were said to be in the process of drafting plans for its repair.

The company, suffering on the transmission and distribution side due to a lack of adequate manpower, had engineers spending the better part of yesterday seeking to locate a fault that interrupted power supply to a large section of the East Coast Demerara and West Berbice at 3 am yesterday. Part of the affected area had been repowered and the fault was still to be isolated before the remaining communities could receive power.

Meanwhile, in the city, workers for a second day running continued their industrial action with a protest outside the Main Street headquarters of the company.

Chaos reigned as officials of the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), attempted to explain to workers the terms agreed on yesterday morning.

NAACIE General Secretary, Kaisree Takechandra, said that according to the terms, there was to be an immediate return to work and 100% resumption by Monday. It also catered for all the usual principles obtaining in such an agreement.

He said that a meeting has been scheduled for Monday at 9:30 am between management and officials of the Labour Ministry to seek to arrive at a favourable wages package. Failing this, the workers would have the option of proceeding on further industrial action, which would likely lead to arbitration.

However, some of the workers did not find favour with this, opting to continue industrial action. They argued that the union had signed the terms without consulting them and opted to call an impromptu vote of members at hand.

Takechandra tried in vain to counsel the workers on prudent action and following proper procedures. He told them that it would be to their advantage if the matter was dealt with at conciliation rather than arbitration.

Meanwhile, some outlying communities have been feeling the effects of the industrial action with concern expressed about the lack of adequate protection for essential services. The Bartica Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), in a statement, was critical of the lack of measures to ensure the functioning of essential services.

The statement relayed the chamber's deep concern over the total shutdown that prevailed in the area at present as a result of the strike. The Bartica Power Station has been completely shut down since Thursday morning.

A press release from the Guyana Water Authority (GUYWA) yesterday stated that the current power failures had adversely affected its ability to supply water to the entire Essequibo Coast along with Bartica.

Additionally, the villages of De Hoop, Novar, Strath Campbell, Calcutta, Weldaad, Kingelly, Ithaca and Bush Lot in Region Five (Mahaica/West Berbice), were also without the essential service because there was no power to activate the pump stations.

GUYWA, it stated, was fortunate to maintain its regular service in the communities of Perseverance, Crabwood Creek, Hubu, Fellowship, Pouderoyen, Farm, Mahaicony, Leguan and New Amsterdam.

GUYWA has cautioned customers to avoid resorting to tampering with or damaging water mains.

Former Chairman of the Guyana Electricity Corporation, Peter Willems in a comment yesterday, expressed disappointment in the action of NAACIE, which he viewed as holding the country to ransom. According to Willems, there existed clear and definitive principles when it came to essential services and legislation has been put in place to avoid such strikes.

He recalled that on two occasions such a threat of industrial action had been made but good sense had prevailed after the union--then the Guyana Public Service Union--had followed procedures leading to an amicable solution by way of arbitration. He said that the union had a duty to put adequate

measures in place to cater for the delivery of power to essential services and a skeleton staff to man the power plants.

Takechandra had said on Thursday that the company was refusing to budge from its offer of 12 per cent even as the union, which had originally demanded a 50 per cent hike, dropped its demand to 42 per cent and was flexible.

GPL in its version of the talks said it was convinced that it made a fair and reasonable offer balancing the interest of employees, customers and the economy. It noted that in addition to the general eight per cent increase it had offered, NAACIE members also stood to benefit from a three per cent to 4.5% hike as a result of a new pay structure and a further four per cent to compensate for the differential between the increases granted to NAACIE and Guyana Public Service Union workers for 2000. At the minimum, this would have translated into a hike of 15% and 16.5% at the maximum for NAACIE workers. Furthermore, GPL said that it had tabled proposals for the payment of overtime to senior staff, who were not previously eligible, which could lift payroll costs by as much as three per cent and that NAACIE members were in receipt of performance incentive bonuses to the tune of 6.9% of payroll costs.

GPL further argued that its offer had taken cognizance of the impact the hikes would have on electricity tariffs. "The combined effect of all the increases will be to increase payroll costs by more than 20%. A 20% increase in payroll cost will itself increase electricity tariffs by approximately three per cent in 2002", it said.