By Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner WriterPRIVATE SECTOR support is building on the proposal for the existing redundancy law to be scrapped or significantly amended.
Herbert Lewis, president of the Jamaica Employers Federation (JEF), the umbrella body for major private sector employers, agrees that the Employment Termination and Redundancy Payments Act places significant restraints on business operators, a position previously advanced by businessman Sameer Younis.
Mr. Younis has said that businesses which think it advisable to close or restructure their operations, are often unable to do so because of the high cost of compensating workers who would lose their jobs in the process.
Mr. Lewis agrees with that position, and adds that it hampers business development.
"There is a number of businesses today which cannot afford to pay redundancy based on the formula which is in place now, as a consequence of which their business is not progressing," said the JEF president.
"They are just limping along from day to day and would love to restructure and put themselves in a place where they can be more profitable, but cannot do that under the present circumstances."
As an alternative to the redundancy law, Mr. Lewis wants an unemployment benefits scheme to be established, with government, employers and workers contributing to the fund.
HOPEFUL OF GETTING DIFFERENT RESPONSE
The JEF sits on the tripartite Labour Advisory Committee (LAC) and he has served notice that he will be formally raising the matter at that forum.
While admitting that the proposal was previously raised at the LAC and rejected by the trade unions, Mr. Lewis is hoping that this time the response will be different.
"Perhaps the time is now right to deal with it," he said.
But, the immediate response of one leading trade unionist suggests that such optimism may be misplaced.
Danny Roberts, vice-president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), is warning that "the unions will vehemently oppose any attempt to repeal the Employment Termination and Redundancy Payments Act, or, in the process of labour legislation reform, to engage in the mischief of removing existing rights, privileges or benefits currently enjoyed by the workers."
Beverly Lopez, president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), a strong advocate of a national social partnership agreement, along the Irish model, believes that proposals on redundancy reform should not be rejected without careful consideration by all concerned.
"I think in the scheme of things we will have to look at everything that comes up; we cannot discard any idea that comes about. We need to see how each idea fits into a set of initiatives. No one initiative can solve the problem," she said.
After visiting Ireland last year to examine the turnaround in that country's economic and social fortunes, Mrs. Lopez believes one reason for the improvement was that "they were able to overcome the trough that previously existed between the private sector, the unions and the government."
Having overcome those difficulties, she said, Ireland was now into its sixth three-year Partnership Agreement.
Danny Roberts is also advocating Social Partnership talks and continued dialogue at the LAC. In that context he said that he was in support of reviewing existing labour legislation "to make them more adaptable to the labour market."
He is warning, however, that any such reform "must not compromise existing rights, benefits, and privileges enjoyed by the workers."
The unions' approach, he said, is to "provide greater social protection and promote greater trade union rights among workers, consistent with the general trend and objectives of the International Labour Organisation."
