By Balford Henry, Senior Staff Reporter 
Buchanan
A Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament which had been studying proposed amendments to the labour laws for the past three years, finally ended its work on Tuesday with agreement on a new definition of "a worker".
The new definition reads: "Worker means an individual who has entered into or works or normally works (or where the employment has ceased, worked) under a contract howsoever described in circumstances where that individual works under the direction, supervision and control of the employer regarding hours of work, nature of work, management of discipline and such other conditions as are similar to those which apply to an employee."
Minister of Labour and Social Security, Donald Buchanan, who chaired the committee, said that neither his Ministry nor the Solicitor General found any legal impediment with the new definition, proposed jointly by the employers and the trades unions, which will recognise contract workers including security guards.
"This means that, for all practical purposes, the amendments to the LRIDA and the Trade Union Act are now complete, save and except for the formal debate in the House which will take place in January," Mr. Buchanan said.
He said that he was satisfied that the definition covers all "genuine workers and persons who are contracted for services" and would go a far way in addressing the problems faced by contract workers.
The JSC was appointed in 1998 to study several Labour Reform proposals, which would have required amendments to both the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA) and the Trade Union Act and report to Parliament. It was chaired initially by former Minister of Labour Portia Simpson Miller and eventually by Mr. Buchanan, her successor.
Initially, the committee sought to amend the laws as they related to: the definition of who is a worker; the right of workers to strike; workers' rights to seek decertification of non-performing trade unions; and the discretionary power of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal in reinstating workers who claim to have been unjustifiably dismissed.
After two years of abortive talks, involving the committee and representatives of both the trades unions and the employers, the Minister decided not to proceed with any of the controversial proposals. But, even this turned out to be a problem, as the National Workers Union (NWU) insisted on an amendment to the definition of a worker which would recognise contract workers.
The NWU has made numerous claims for bargaining rights on behalf of security guards, but the Ministry of Labour has been unable to call a ballot, as the employers claimed that contract workers were not recognised under the current definition of workers in the LRIDA.
An attempt by Mr. Buchanan to close off on the issue in March this year, just prior to the close of the 2000/2001 financial year, failed when PNP Senator Navel Clarke, an NWU officer, led a rebellion against the Minister's proposal to keep the current definition in the Act. NWU president, Clive Dobson, threatened to take the matter to the bar of the House of Representatives.
This issue was eventually resolved, when the employers and the trade unions reached a consensus on a new definition, at the level of the tripartite Labour Advisory Committee (LAC). The new definition was approved by the JSC on Tuesday.
