Last year, total bauxite production was just under 12 million tons, a nearly two decade high, and the mining industry itself was one of three sectors to post growth figures. But efforts to expand bauxite operations have been hampered in recent years by conflicts between producers and the nation's labor unions. General manager of Alpart, contends that unless significant action is taken by the government to tie wage increases to productivity, bauxite companies will be reluctant to sink large amounts of capital into existing enterprises. We are competing with these other countries where unions and companies are signing five-year labor contracts and protocols of understanding for 10 to 15 years ensuring operational stability. Besides labor conflicts, Jamaica's bauxite plants are older and smaller than in either Brazil or Australia.
Corporations also complain about high taxes.
Officials favors the reduction or elimination of the bauxite levy, which requires companies to pay a tax for every ton of bauxite mined, before they have converted the bauxite to alumina and sold it. To better relations between many of the largest industrial producers and their employees, the government wrote a pact which puts in place a series of steps to be taken to settle disputes that could harm production timelines. So far in 1998, the Memorandum has helped establish a defined schedule for labor costs in the bauxite and coffee sectors. Aiming at competitiveness and efficiency, Alpart bauxite company has created a comprehensive program appropriately entitled Alpart 2000 whose objective is to increase production while cutting the cost of energy, raw materials, and labor. Working closely with local communities, Alpart attempts to spread jobs throughout the region in order to ensure a more equitable distribution of wages.