Jamaica bauxite workers reject wage offer

KINGSTON, June 19 (Reuters) - Workers at Alumina Partners of Jamaica, the Caribbean nation's largest bauxite and alumina plant, have rejected the company's latest wage and benefits offer, their union said on Thursday.

But there was no immediate threat of industrial action, as the union said that another meeting would be held in 10 days to try to settle the dispute.

"We have held 19 meetings so far and we have made progress, but more needs to be achieved," Vincent Morrison, president of the National Workers Union, said in a statement.

Just over 1,000 workers at the Alpart plant in the southwestern parish of St. Elizabeth told their union leaders they would not accept the company's offer of a 31 percent wage increase over three years.

The workers want 45 percent over three years.

Alpart is jointly owned by Russia's United Company Rusal and Norway's Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL). It has a production capacity of 1.45 million tonnes of alumina annually.

Morrison said the union had submitted a 49-point proposal for wage and fringe benefits for the new contract period.

"The rate of inflation has skyrocketed and we will not settle for anything lower than the prevailing rate of inflation," Morrison said.

The last contract expired on Dec. 31, 2007. (Reporting by Horace Helps, editing by Jim Loney)