Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
THE MAJORITY of human resources managers and trade unions are of the view that the 32-year-old Employment Termination and Redundancy Payment Act (ETRPA) must remain, but should be amended.
This is according to a preliminary study carried out by Dr. Noel Cowell, lecturer at the University of the West Indies.
The study was commissioned in 2004 by Horace Dalley, Minister of Labour and Social Security. It initially drew the wrath of trade unionists who were of the view that the Labour Minister was being influenced by employers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to fiddle with 'sacred' redundancy payment provisions.
Prominent businessman Sameer Younis had spurred the debate in December 2003, when he labelled the act a deterrent to investment and called for it to be repealed.
The purpose of the report was to obtain the perspective of the social partners on the impact of the legislation.
The study was done through a series of face-to-face interviews with employers, the Government and trade unionists, during July and August last year.
"The overwhelmingly dominant perspective of all social partners is that it is appropriate for workers to receive some sort of compensation, where they lose their jobs through no fault of their own," said Dr. Cowell in the report.
Dr. Cowell said employers were looking for an approach to amending the legislation which would reduce the cost of dismissal. Trade unions and Government officials are looking for an approach which tightens the Act to remove several "loopholes".
He said both trade unionists and employers are of the view that any reform of the legislation must be placed within the larger context of general labour market reform.
"Trade unionists stress the need to strengthen the framework of protective legislation and in particular to explore the development of a 'comprehensive social security system'," the report said.
The findings of the report were presented at the Labour Advisory Committee (LAC) meeting last week Wednesday and are already being welcomed by the unions.
"The study dismisses this propaganda notion about the negative impact of not only (the Act) but the idea that labour laws are a hindrance to economic development," said Danny Roberts, vice president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU).
But Jacqueline Coke-Lloyd, executive director of the Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF), said she was not in a position to comment on the report as she had not had the chance to examine it.
Meanwhile Dr. Horace Williams, human resources specialist and lecturer in the School of Business at the University of Technology, is also in agreement with the findings of the report.
"I think the Act should remain as a point of principle but should be amended," he told The Gleaner.
