TODAY'S EXTRACT IS FROM THE EDITORIAL OF NOVEMBER 25, 2003
The issue of flexible work arrangements is back on the agenda. It had quietly disappeared from parliamentary and public debate just ahead of the 2002 General Election and has not found its way back until very recently. The issue has been around, on and off, for much of the past decade. Minister of Labour and Social Security Horace Dalley now seems determined to bring closure to it on his watch.
Flexibility in working time is not something awaiting introduction; it is a reality in the labour market. What now needs to be done, as public policy struggles to catch up with changes on the ground, is to formally anchor arrangements in a legislative framework with adequate protection of the rights and freedoms of stakeholders ...
Two of the outstanding issues to be resolved from the consultation among government, employers, trade unions, and the Church was the matter of the maximum hours of work per day permissible in making up a 40-hour work week, and the more thorny matter of instituting a seven-day work week without the 'week-end' status of Saturday and Sunday. The latter has raised serious concerns about days of worship from the churches ...
The touted benefits of flexible working time arrangements should not be hard to sell while the concerns of stakeholders are taken aboard in continued dialogue. No signing off should be permitted to take place without the broadest possible public understanding and support through consultation and education.
