By Vernon Daley, Staff Reporter
Morris
STATE MINISTER for Labour and Social Security Senator Floyd Morris yesterday defended the Ministry's industrial relations staff against charges of incompetence by the island's trade unions.
Senator Morris also dismissed claims by unions that the Government had done very little to push ahead with reforms to the labour market.
Speaking in the Senate yesterday, the State Minister dismissed claims that the Ministry's conciliation staff were incapable of providing the necessary guidance to employers and workers who were locked in industrial disputes.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," said Senator Morris who was speaking on a resolution calling on government to expedite agreed reforms to the labour market.
He said the 12 members of the Ministry's conciliation unit were all well trained in industrial relations and all have been given assistance in the past by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
"Individuals are subjected to mistakes and have to give these individuals in the organisation a chance to do their jobs," Senator Morris added.
Earlier this week, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) - the umbrella group for the island's unions - announced a boycott of Ministry of Labour meetings to highlight concerns about the staff's competence.
"We are concerned that the functionaries within this department continue to fail to provide any semblance of guidance to both employers and employees who are forced to appear there," a JCTU statement said.
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Senator Dwight Nelson, who moved the resolution in the Senate yesterday, argued that the Government had done next to nothing in implementing reforms to the labour market which were recommended by a broad-based committee in 1996.
The recommendations included modernising the island's labour laws, implementing flexible work arrangements and the restructuring of the Ministry of Labour to make it better able to deal with industrial relations dispute.
"Why has there been this long delay? It has been six years since these recommendations were made," Senator Nelson said.
While conceding that there was still much more to be done in implementing reforms to make the island's labour market more efficient, Senator Morris argued that much had already been done to bring about important changes.
He pointed to a green paper on flexible work arrangements which has been circulated for public discussion. He also noted that last year changes were made to the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act aimed a giving greater protection to the island's workers.
The Senator added that work had also been done improving the physical plant of the Labour Ministry and upgrading workers there.
Against this background, Senator Morris called for an amendment to Senator Nelson's resolution which suggested that nothing had been done to push the labour market reforms ahead. Debate on the resolution continues on the resolution in the Senate today.
