Orville W. Taylor

Last week there was a firestorm in industrial relations as the nurses seemed to have run out of 'patients' while the teachers struggled to show that despite the adversity they still have 'class'.

Both groups are militant and insisting that they should be given pay increases that are above that which was agreed upon for central and local government officers. As I have declared on several occasions, these are professionals in short supply who ought not to be treated like the 15,000 public servants whose jobs the original memorandum of understanding (MoU) was designed to preserve.

Indeed, if the Jamaica Civil Service Association and its allies in the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions accepted a pay freeze/ceiling to save the jobs of its members, it is unfair to expect the other professionals to be bound by it.

In regard to the teachers, the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) is in fight mode and has given the Government until Wednesday this week to bring an improved offer. Furthermore, its members are incensed over the alleged reneging of the Ministry of Finance from an earlier proposal for a book grant of some $30,000 as opposed to the latest offer of $7,500.

I have a lesson for the JTA and its former and present president. There are many words that can be used in negotiations which do not indicate a concrete proposal. They should carefully listen to what is suggested and the language that is used. Nonetheless, the new president is at least as recalcitrant as his predecessor.

A word to Junior Minister Fitz Jackson as well. It is not good industrial relations practice to deliver final offers in the form of ultimatums. Given human nature, the only settlement that will bring is squatter settlement.

Next generation of university students

Still, I would be hypocritical as an educator myself if I did not express some disappointment with the speech of some of the JTA orators. As indicated above, attention must be paid to both substance and words. Given that they are teaching the next generation of university students, and national leaders, I was appalled over the lack of control over the Vice Chancellor's English. (Remember no Queen's English 'round here). An occasional slip of the tongue is acceptable but not wholesale. Battery of the language or failing to grasp basic grammar is not allowable for teachers, at least not in public. As much as I love the native Jamaican language it is not appropriate to speak "Patglish."

"I hopes that I are understanded!"

With the nurses it is a different matter. Like the teachers, they need not be hamstrung by the agreement with the public functionaries. Even more than her JTA counterpart, NAJ President Edith Allwood-Anderson is as unmoving as 'mahoe'. Unhappy with the Ministry of Finance's offer of 22 per cent across two years, she is declaring that she will not be going to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal if the Ministry of Labour refers the dispute there.

This is where I part company with her. Industrial peace is guaranteed in this country because sensible unions (despite the occasional union demagogue) accept the sanctity of the three-stage process with the Ministry of Labour in the middle and the IDT at the end. She, however, might feel justified in feeling that the process of conciliation is not exhausted. Still, Jackson would perhaps have a bout of 'Fitz' and Omar is an Iraqi Sunni Muslim name so they will perhaps give little or no ground

Delegate responsibility

Nonetheless, although she has called for the intervention of the Prime Minister (PM), I do not support this move. The PM must delegate responsibility and keep it that way. Inasmuch as she is ordained, she is not omnipresent. However, she could possibly have a word with the Finance Minister and his junior.

On another note, what is happening with this Justin Gatlin saga? The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has issued an eight-year ban for his second positive doping result. Yet it is saying that the circumstances of his "first offence put his violation in a unique category." He had initially failed a drug test while in college in 2001, and not because he did not study for it. The explanation was that he was taking medication since childhood for attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).

He clearly has ADHD because he did not pay enough attention to the rules surrounding drug use and the circumstances. In my view, if the authorities had thought that he was not guilty of the first offence, then they should expunge it from his record. The rules are simple: if it is a positive result then so be it.

We now learn that there is the possibility that he might get a reduction to four years because he has agreed to "cooperate in USADA's anti-doping efforts." Simply put, he is now going to become an informer. Even worse, his lawyer Cameron Myler is "shooting for way less than two years." Hopefully, in the final arbitration, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) does not endorse this mockery of a compromise because he normally should be facing a life ban. It is sheer hypocrisy and double standards. Ben Johnson, who became the poster boy for cheaters in 1988, must feel that there is never a Thursday for him.

Adding insult to injury, Carl Lewis, who himself had two hidden positive tests in 1988, is now speaking about clean athletics.

Donkey is right: the world is indeed not level.

Dr. Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.