Martin Henry THE STAGE is set. Partner number one, the Government, seems determined to now move briskly in creating a legislative framework for the formalisation of flexibility in working time in Jamaica. I say 'formalisation' because a great deal of flexibility in working time already exists.
Over three days last week, The Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the International Labour Organization (ILO) staged a "National Tripartite Meeting on Flexibility in Working Time." The three parts in the 'tripartite' are Government, Employers and Workers - listed here in descending order of power. The meeting acknowledged the multipartite status of the issue. Church leaders were at the table. I attended as a public citizen who had engaged the issue in media and in Parliament before the Joint Select Committee examining "Proposals for the Introduction of Flexible Work Arrangements." And the ILO was in the room as international partner and meeting leader.
FLEXIBILITY IN WORKING TIME
But the matter of flexibility in working time fundamentally affects all 2.6 million of us, and most directly the nearly one million persons in the labour force. The very first ILO Convention after the establishment of the organization in 1919 was for the regulation of working hours. Major shifts in working arrangements are under way everywhere. Minister of Labour and Social Security, Horace Dalley, and his Minister of State, Senator Floyd Morris, are determined to bring to closure a decade of talk around flexibility in working time in Jamaica.
We have no choice in adopting the international direction in flexi work, the Minister acknowledges, while the Minister of State cautions to make haste slowly. Minister Dalley pledged full respect for stakeholders' rights, including the right to a day of worship, and full commitment to ILO standards. The Plan of Action adopted by the meeting stated that "flexible working time arrangements should enhance productivity, job security, employment creation and gender equality within the framework of constitutional rights and freedoms."
The meeting made forcefully clear that partner number one must not only provide a fair legal framework within constitutional rights and freedoms but must exercise a neutral regulatory and arbitrative role in the management of flexible work arrangements. It is precisely where reasonableness and goodwill are inadequate and subject to breakdown in contractual relationships that the strong, just and neutral arm of the state is most needed.
Running through the meeting was the call for comprehensive public education. UWI social scientist Dr. Orville Taylor's background paper "Working Time and Work Organization (WTWO) in Jamaica" reports a "lack of deep awareness of flexible working hours among employees." The same is true among employers. And it is quite clear that the Trade Unions represent only a small fraction of the workforce and the Employers Federation a minority of all employers. The very people who must make the process work and deliver all the promised benefits know little about it.
Even the Church, the largely self-invited fourth party in earlier 'tripartite' discussions, represents a limited though very important constituency of interest.
The Green Paper too, narrowly identified the social partners as the Jamaica Employers' Federation, The Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions and the Government of Jamaica. Quite apart from the perhaps unintended exclusion of other stakeholders at that earlier stage, the Government cannot simply be an equal partner. It must be the grand arbiter of the process, consulting all interests and balancing all interests, with particular concern for the weaker, within the overarching framework of constitutional rights and freedoms and must provide an effective management mechanism. The Minister has pledged full respect for the views of the Church and other stakeholders.
The adopted Action Plan says: "Recognizing the deep lack of awareness and understanding among the general public regarding flexibility in working time-- the Government, Employers, Trade Unions, and Church Leaders will initiate a broad public education programme--" ahead of and in conjunction with legislative changes.
The timetable could be tight. Minister Dalley is placing the Action Plan before the Labour Advisory Committee exactly two weeks from today on Thursday, December 4. Then it is off to Cabinet and then to Parliament when a new Joint Select Committee will consider the matter. There is a proposal to convert the Action Plan into a new Green Paper as the base document of the public education campaign. Sector representatives who can fit into a hotel meeting room should dare not sign off on flexible work arrangements which will affect the entire population without the public education of their constituents.
"The introduction of Flexible Work Arrangements is considered vital to increase productivity, efficiency and competitiveness by the employers. The Government is committed to economic growth, job creation and increased investments," the old Green Paper announced the big macro-economic parameters.
HUMANNESS OF WORK
The humanness of work, not to be relegated to any secondary importance, was so evident at the Meeting. Minister Dalley was too ill to attend the Opening and came briefly on day three 'against doctors' orders'. His Minister of State is visually impaired and is a Sabbath-keeping man of faith.
After a late night session, hammering out the Action Plan from group discussion notes, the ILO man, Jon Messenger, was visibly wilting on his feet while leading the point by point review of the Plan the next day. MLSS senior legal officer, Millicent Grizzle, who had earlier identified some of the key challenges in formalizing flexible work arrangements, was at one stage too mentally loaded to think any more.
Trade unionist Aston Johnson got us all at the end to link hands in a circle while Rev. Earle Thames prayed. And as we broke and ran, the traffic out there was on everybody's mind. Everything started late every day.
The economic efficiencies of flexible work arrangements must accommodate the humanness of the people who work, rest, worship, get sick, have children, maintain social and cultural relationships, and want to avoid all kinds of discrimination.
Martin Henry is a communication consultant.
