Prime Minister P.J. Patterson (seated centre) joins Dr. Omar Davies (seated left), Minister of Finance and Planning, and Senator Dwight Nelson (seated second right), vice-president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, in signing the Memorandum of Understanding forged between Government and trade unions. The signing took place at Jamaica House. Looking on are other members of Government and trade unions.
-Junior Dowie photo
Phyllis Thomas,
News Editor
THE AGREEMENT be-tween the Government and the Jamaica Confe-deration of Trade Unions which encompasses a two-year wage restraint, a near blanket freeze on employment as well as on expenditure, is a significant achievement. This is because of the benefits that will come to the country as a whole and because of the signal it has sent about our attempt to move with the time.
This is the good news for which the country had been hankering although there are some concerns about equity in the partnership that the workers are making the bigger sacrifice.
BENEFITS TO THE COUNTRY
The benefits to the country include the breathing space that the holding of the wage bill for two years will afford the Government, allowing it to begin to put its house in order. Savings from the agreement will come to more than $5 billion. Also, as Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies said, it is a signal to the Government's creditors. Also, stability of the labour market is always an incentive to investment and given the necessary support and resources, should stimulate production and growth.
Many of us are particularly impressed by the fact that the Government (as employer) on the one hand and the unions on the other, could reach the agreement they have, and yet the participants have emerged seemingly unscathed. In the not too distant past that could never have happened. People would usually be tearing out their hair. Labour relations had been characterised mainly by confrontation be-cause management, be it private sector or public sector, was evil and workers, a set of lazy gold diggers who expected to reap what they did not sow. They were suspicious of each other, so any suggestion that seemed that it would get in the way of compensation expected or which went beyond what the management was willing to release would be fuel for the industrial furnace.
I can remember my days of involvement in unions to be specific the now dead Union of Journalists and Allied Employees of which I was a founding member. We were a bunch of antagonists. Very aggressive. It was "we and dem". And if "dem" slipped, we would "lock down de place".
The new approach to industrial relations is evident not only in the agreement signed last week but in the stability seen on this front for a number of years now. The future augurs well for labour relations. It speaks of maturity.
The source of concern about the MoU is that success hinges not just on commitment to the principles expressed in the MoU but whether the Government will in fact be able to bring inflation within the single digit band. Because commitment is one thing but ability is another. Also, the restraint in expenditure in the MoU would not have been necessary had the Government followed the recommendations in the Orane Report which speaks to public sector waste. The Government has obviously not been able to contain waste and therefore expenditure. This MoU, therefore, will be a challenge and sure test of the Government's mettle. Importantly too, what the Government is willing to give up in this partnership is blurred. The MoU speaks to restraint on spending and employment constraint and Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said he will lead by example in that neither he nor other members of the Government would be seeking to benefit from the recommendations of the Oliver Clarke-led Parliamentary Salaries Review Committee over the life of the MoU. They need to do more than that and cut the initial increase they had given to themselves. That is sacrifice.
Nevertheless, we are giving the MoU our support for the greater good that it stands for. This is in fact good news and, as I said recently, give me the goods and I will deliver.
Comments? E-mail me at
phyllis.thomas@gleanerjm.com
