Cane cutters in a militant mood during a protest at the main gate to the Bernard Lodge sugar factory in St. Catherine. They were pressing for better working conditions and an increase in the rate for cutting cane. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
IT SEEMS that every area of the economy is suffering from strikes nowadays, what with the sugar sector, the bauxite sector, and even part of the construction sector, either temporarily incapacitated by strikes or threatening to go on strike over the last three weeks. With public sector wage negotiations likely to move slowly to a conclusion in this fiscal year, it seems that one can expect a year wracked by a series of on-going industrial disputes, with the strike weapon being the most disruptive tactic of all.
In Jamaica, strikes which were once illegal are now commonplace, whether it is a spontaneous eruption (wow, that's a mouthful) or union-delegate directed (although don't expect the respective labour union to acknowledge knowing anything about it). Not unexpectedly, the protest tactic of angry demonstrators and scrawled picket signs has gravitated to all parishes and it is not surprising to see one demonstration each night on one of our local television stations, with persons holding picket signs, protesting either police injustice, the lack of adequate piped or trucked water, or the Jamaica Public Service Company cutting illegal connections without any warning (believe it or not).
What would be a big surprise however is if certain new groups were to take up the strike tactic. No, I am not talking about the workers that are deemed ineligible to pursue such a tactic under the Essential Services Act, such as firemen, nurses, air traffic controllers, or even police officers (as this group tried last year). Even some members of the Junior Doctors Association have been taken to court (for breaches of this Act). The new groups would not even be bank workers or other 'white-collar workers', who are just as prone today, as daily paid workers were in the past, to utilise the strike tactic. But imagine if our judges or government lawyers were to strike? Imagine their placards: 'We want justice' or 'Justice may be blind but we are not stupid, we also want a better salary.'
Government lawyers who strike, would have even funnier placards: 'Justice delayed does not mean we will get more pay', or 'Who will aid those who offer legal aid?'
What if our politicians were to strike? Imagine their signs: 'Who are you going to blame for what goes wrong today, when we are on strike?' or 'Small change SESP money can't work'.
PLACARDS
What if our accountants were to strike: 'Give us better pay or you won't be able to count on us another day' or 'We checked the numbers and it doesn't add up'.
What if our massage hostesses or ladies of the night were to strike? Imagine their placards: 'To relieve stress it's best that we get paid above the rest' or 'You may can exist without us but you won't enjoy it'.
What if our entertainers/musicians were to lay down their musical instruments, computer key boards, microphones and strike? Imagine their placards: 'Singing the blues' or 'Without the ability to buy the bling, we just can't sing.'
What if our morticians decided to strike? 'You can't take it with you, so share it with us' or 'We can out-live you in our business, so pay up'.
You get the picture. It's a good thing that this strike thing is not so catching or we would again be singing like the Ethiopians "Everything Crash", in tribute to the chronic instability of labour relations in an earlier period of Jamaican life at the end of the 1960s.
