The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) was forced to carry out load-shedding in a number of parishes last night as a result of strike action by some of its employees.

In a release from the company sent to the media last night, the company stated that it had to conduct load-shedding in Blocks D, I and G between 6:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

"This will include communities within the parishes of St James, Trelawny, Clarendon, Kingston and St Catherine," the release stated.

It was further stated that the Company was making every effort to restore the power supply to customers in the shortest possible time.

Representatives of JPS and the Union of Clerical and Supervisory Employees (UCASE) were said to have been in a meeting at the Ministry of Labour yesterday, in an effort to resolve the issues that led to the industrial action. The employees have been reporting sick since Sunday, according to the release.

As a result, the release continued, the members of the JPS management team had been forced to handle operations at the company's power stations and the system control centre, the main areas affected by the industrial unrest.

The industrial action is said to be due to the employees' disagreement with the recent reclassification of the system control engineers.