DalleyBalford Henry, News Editor
LAST WEEK'S announcement of a new national minimum wage as well as new hourly rates and allowances for security guards passed quietly perhaps leaving the impression that all is well in the labour sector.
However, if one has been heeding recent industrial relations developments, then it is obvious that there is a layer of discontent bubbling just beneath the surface.
Don't take my word for it, check the records.
There is the issue between the National Workers Union (NWU) and the Flour Mills over whether a worker, after accepting his redundancy payment, can still be judged as unjustifiably dismissed, and whether the fear of sabotage gives a company the right to make people redundant without notice.
The issue of whether management has the sole right to structure pay policy, as was raised in the dispute between the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) Limited and both the Bustamant Industrial Trade Union (BITU) and the NWU.
The issue of flexible working hours which, although already at the stage of a Green Paper tabled in Parliament, and an urgent one in the context of the 2005 WTO deadline, has been put on the backburner for the past year.
The issue of industrial security guards and the hopes that were raised when Parliament decided last year that they should be regarded as regular "workers" and due the benefits which all other workers enjoy.
The issue of the growing number of work permits being granted by the Ministry of Labour to people outside of CARICOM to do work that Jamaicans, or other Caribbean people, could easily do.
And these are just few of the issues which are still haunting the sector. Hopes were raised in June, when Minister of Labour and Social Security, Horace Dalley, hosted a high profile meeting of the Labour Advisory Commitee (LAC) at his Ministry, and suggested agreement with the trade unions and the Jamaica Employers Federation (JEF) that the meetings of the Committee be more regular.
That meeting was a low-key meeting which, quite usefully, appointed some sub-committees to address some areas of concern, but the general climate is one of the usual slow crawl towards an elusive consensus, while the issues become even more urgent and times keeps running out.
In June, the Appeals Court handed down what was regarded as a landmark judicial decision. It stated that, in terms of the redundancy of three NWU delegates at the Jamaica Flour Mills (JFM), the JFM breached the Labour Relations Code when they made the workers redundant without prior consultation with the National Workers Union.
The JFM claimed that it acted in strict conformity with the Employment Termination and Redundancy Payments Act. It said it did not notify the workers, or their union of the decision to make them redundant, because it feared sabotage of the company's plant. But, the Court of Appeal felt that "there was no reason to apprehend the likelihood of sabotage."
In addition, two of the workers had accepted their severance pay and the JFM claimed that, in so doing, they waived their legal rights to reinstatement. But, the court held that "there was no evidence of a settled intention in either of them to abandon his legal right to reinstatement in his job." The workers said they took the money because of compelling economic reasons.
Now these are fundamental labour relations issues, not unique to the JFM or the NWU, which need to be discussed quickly and set a precedence in terms of how we proceed in the future, or it is going to be a matter of grave concern in the next few years.
SALARY STRUCTURE
In its most recent ruling of national importance, JPSCo and the BITU and the NWU on the issue of the company's salary structure which should be implemented consequent on the Job Evaluation and Compensation Review Exercise the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) made some interesting statements.
The director of compensation for Mirant, the JPSCo's United States parent company told the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) that the company's policy did not recognise the principle of retroactive pay and insisted there would be no retroactive pay arising out of the job evaluation exercise.
But, the IDT responded that, "the non-recognition of retroactivity is a major shift in the Jamaican industrial relations practice." This is an issue which has to be examined in the light of the new corporations investing in Jamaica and whether their industrial relations policies should be copied in circumstances where they are contrary to normal practices.
In terms of the issue of flexible work hours, it is obvious that the lack of courage of Mr. Dalley's predecessors to deal with the concerns raised by the various sectors caused them to place the issue, basically, on the backburner. But time is running out and Mr. Dalley now has to face the facts. The main problem is the fact that some, if not all, churches are opposed to flexible work hours and the impact it could have on worship days and hours and no politician is ever willing to challenge the power of the church. But, more flexible working hours is such an urgent need for the new era that both the employers and the unions are agreed on the need for it.
The issue of the working conditions of industrial security guards is a very sore point which Mr. Dalley's predecessors also side-stepped, conveniently, and there are reasons why they did, not the least of which is the considerable political influence of the security industry lobby. It is really a tough nut to crack.
DEMANDS FOR COMPENSATION
The security firms, no doubt have to be careful that they do not submit to excessive demands for compensation which are triggered by economic crises. But, at the same time, one has to be concerned about the plight of the guards, especially the women who have to work excessive hours to make a half decent wage without any supplementary benefits or enjoy the benefits other workers have access to, such as the National Housing Trust (NHT) or National Insurance funds, much less sick and vacation leave.
It was interesting to observe Minister Dalley noting, at his press briefing last week to confirm the new minimum rates that, "the condition of the majority of our approximately 14,000 security guards is a matter of concern to me as a minister of labour.
"As a government, we cannot and will not tolerate the conditions under which most of our security guards have to work, which are conditions unacceptable by international standards."
Yet, when pressed by the unions as to what he actually planned to do about it, he suggested that it would be left to the unions and the management of the companies and possibly a Joint Industrial Council, if they ever get that far. The point about the growing number of work permits being issued by the Ministry to people outside of the region may not be a major concern now, but it surely will be as we move into the era of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). Then we will have to explain why it is necessary to give Chinese nationals, for example, work permits to work as simple store clerks in dry goods establishments, when it is not a really skilled occupation, it is already one in which we are expert and there is no shortage of Jamaicans who need the jobs.
For years we have been trumpeting the need for the country to prepare itself to meet the challenges and competition arising from the new developments, but there continues to be a reluctance to address them, obviously for political expediency. The problem is that, like we have said before, the chickens are fast coming home to roost and no place has been prepared for them and time is fast running out.
