CONTRACT WORKERS, including security guards, will be paying close attention
to today`s meeting of the Labour Advisory Council (LAC), as it deals with the
crucial issue of their protection under the Labour Relations and Industrial
Disputes Act (LRIDA).
National Workers Union (NWU) president Clive Dobson is expected to lead a
challenge against the proposal of the Minister of Labour and Social Security,
Donald Buchanan, to maintain the status quo by not amending the definition of
worker to include the contract workers. BITU vice-president Dwight Nelson,
who represents his union on the LAC, says he will also oppose the Minister`s
proposal.
The unions say that unless the issue can be resolved at today`s meeting, they
will appear before the Bar of the Parliament to oppose the Minister`s
proposals. Union sources said yesterday that they would lobby both MP`s and
Senators and expect to sway a number of them to vote against the Minister`s
proposal, contained in the report of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament
on proposed changes to the Act.
Mr. Dobson said that the issue of contract work was much too important to
be ignored in the current debate: "It is not only security guards, it is
rampant in a number of industries, including tourism. These people are being
deprived of social benefits and they will never qualify for redundancy or
pension," he pointed out.
The BITU, which had previously agreed to go along with Mr. Buchanan`s
suggestion, changed its tune at the last LAC meeting, claiming that the
Minister had failed to follow-up on guarantees he had given to protect the
contract workers.
Support
"We are going to lobby against the proposal and we expect to have the support
of at least 16 Members of Parliament," Mr. Nelson said last night.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Anthony Irons, confirmed last night that
the issue of the definition of who is a worker under the law is on the agenda
for today`s meeting, but expressed doubts that there would be any change in
the positions: "I expect they will try to appear before Parliament,"he said.
Mr. Buchanan felt the matter was sealed after the Joint Select Committee of
Parliament, which studied proposals for amending the LRIDA, finally approved
a report after more than one year of deliberations. But, the unions and
several MPs and senators sympathetic to the contract workers are upset that
he chose to delete a proposed amendment, which would clearly define
contracted persons as normal workers subject to the same treatment as other
employees.
The deleted proposal was arrived at under the chairmanship of former Minister
of Labour Portia Simpson Miller. The unions are claiming that it was deleted
after the Jamaica Employers Federation (JEF) wrote the Prime Minister
objecting to it.
At the JSC`s final meeting on the issue in March, when the vote was taken on
the matter, only six members of the committee attended, three of whom
supported the Minister`s proposal. Three members - BITU senior vice-president
Senator Ruddy Spencer, NWU Deputy Island Supervisor Senator Navel Clarke, PNP
MP Jennifer Edwards - agreed not to vote against the Minister`s proposal, on
the basis that the Government would review all legislations affecting the
contracted workers.
