By RIEL MAJOR

Tribune Staff Reporter

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE the employees of the National Insurance Board going on "work to rule", there have been no disruptions to the agency's operations, according to NIB Director Dr Nicola Virgill-Rolle.

Her comments came on the second day of the employees' "work to rule" action after their strike vote was considered invalid on Friday.

Speaking to reporters during a press conference yesterday, Dr Virgill-Rolle said: "We continue to take in claims to do our normal processing and functions. That is key because the whole point of what we do is to serve the public.

"We are serving people who are in need of a retirement benefit, maternity benefit and in need of sickness benefit. It's a very important role NIB plays and we are focused on maintaining customer focus through this difficult time."

Dr Virgill-Rolle said talks are continuing hopefully to come to a decision on a new industrial agreement for the staff union. She said Minister of National Insurance and the Public Service Brensil Rolle had a meeting with union officials on Monday that reportedly went well.

"We obviously have to continue to negotiate, these are, of course, very tough times for the country," she said.

She added: "NIB is mindful of that and as mentioned in our press statement we have to be prudent, but we are happy that the minister, who has taken this over from May, met again with the unions and will continue those discussions.

"We have promised as much as possible to keep negotiations out of the media to negotiate in good faith with each other and we will certainly do so."

For his part, Mr Rolle said he has no objections to the "work to rule" action, once employees are doing their jobs and following NIB's rules. Work to rule means employees will not perform duties other than the minimum they are required to do.

Mr Rolle said: ". . .As long as you do your work and you're working with the rules of the board that's fine with me. I expect it would in some ways show more productivity in the board because every single employee is obligated to work to the rules of National Insurance."

When asked how NIB can cope under these circumstances, Mr Rolle said he doesn't see it as negative.

He said: "Some may see it that way and I firmly believe that if employees are serious about working for the board and working with the board as the board is with them then this is just a process that they are going through.

"We have set down some standards of what we are going to do moving forward with the board and in regard to negotiations. We had a meeting yesterday to clearly define what are the issues."

He added: "And, we made a commitment to work on those issues and to not engage in any discussions in the press about how those processes will work. We've agreed on a date as to when the situation will be resolved."

When asked if the matter will still go to court, the minister said that's a matter for the Ministry of Labour.

Earlier this week, Union of Public Officers (UPO) President Ghion Roach told reporters that Director of Labour John Pinder considered the strike vote invalid because there were some technicalities with the application.

However, workers voted in the poll on Friday, unaware it was not deemed valid. He said the union will take legal action to determine the legitimacy of its strike poll.