THE DECISION of the Jamaica Society for Industrial Security (JSIS) to pull out of the talks on the formation of a Joint Industrial Council (JIC) for the private security industry is unfortunate.
The JICs came into being in 1952 to promote co-operation, communication and understanding between labour and management, especially in sectors where union representation may be problematic because of factors such as diversity of wage claims. The complexity and variety of the private security industry could benefit from a JIC, avoiding disruptions that could challenge industrial peace.
A British invention successfully transplanted to the Jamaican industrial relations field, the JIC model stemmed from the reports of a committee set up in 1916 by the United Kingdom Government to look into relations between employers and workers in that country.
The committee recommended the establishment for each industry of an organisation, representative of employers and work people (as well as the Government), to have as its objective, "the regular consideration of matters affecting the progress and well-being of the trade from the point of view of all those engaged in it, so far as this is consistent with the general interests of the community."
The first Council of the kind to be established in Jamaica was that for the shipping industry, which has been instrumental in the development of good labour management practices and the maintenance of peaceful, harmonious relations in that sector for over 50 years.
In fact, the JIC for shipping just concluded negotiations on a new contract for workers in the sector, without any sign of conflict.
It is, therefore, unfortunate that the JSIS's response to the formation of a JIC for the private security industry was that "the whole economic and industrial relations climate is not conducive to anything of that sort right now."
It is precisely because the industrial climate may not be conducive to good relations between the employers and workers in the sector why a JIC is necessary. It is in the interest of the sector and the country that a JIC be formed which can much more easily maintain harmony within the sector.
With the rise in crime and violence, there has been an increasing need for security and a commensurate rise in their importance. In light of that, we hope that the companies are not seeking to escape their obligations under the newly amended definition of 'worker' in the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act, which requires that the guards be treated equally with other workers.
