The Editor, Sir:

I've watched, with great interest, the industrial scene at Kingston Wharves Ltd for the last few days. The continued strike by unionised workers into Monday, October 27, despite the Industrial Disputes Tribunal's (IDT) back-to-work order on Friday is not only curious, but a dangerous precedent.

The National Workers' Union's claim that:

1) They only got the back-to-work order on Saturday

2) They are confused by the back-to-work order', as it is phrased in such a way that would imply that all workers, including those made redundant, should return to work,

There is no excuse for workers to have continued the strike into today when ordered back to work by the IDT (the highest body in the land responsible for mediating labour disputes).

Not only is this a bad precedent for labour negotiations in Jamaica, it is short-sighted, as no matter who is at fault here - management or the workers, Jamaica has lost $30-40 million in customs duty, per day, as a result of this strike ... as ships could not offload their cargo and thus had to cancel the Jamaican leg of their drop-offs.

Unions need to equip workers for the 21st century. Unions, I agree, should defend workers rights, but they also need to equip workers for the 21st century by enabling them to be so skilled and marketable, that them being made redundant would not be an issue.

It is frightening that, according to Pearnel Charles, minister of labour, 65 per cent of the workers who had applied for the Canada-Jamaica Work Exchange Programme were not admitted to the programme due to them being illiterate.

Illiteracy

Yet, these men and women are very talented and multi-skilled ... but yet they can't access jobs abroad due to their illiteracy.

So what are the unions doing about this? Surely, they should take some blame for workers' unpreparedness for the 21st century!

With the world financial crisis now affecting Jamaica, nobody can guarantee jobs. Those employees who will survive redundancies will be multi-skilled workers who have proven to manage-ment that they're such assets to an organisation, that management can't afford to lose them. Jobs are not guaranteed.

Unions need to help workers understand that they cannot guarantee jobs, that for workers to hold a company at ransom, to reinstate fellow-workers who may be liabilities to an organisation, is wrong.

So when Prime Minister Bruce Golding, while in opposition, had promised "jobs, jobs and more jobs" for Jamaicans if his party (the Jamaica Labour Party) became government ... he, now as head of Government, is stabbing himself in the foot, as very few investors will invest in a country where unions hinder productivity and hence decrease company profits.

Investors will invest in countries with a skilled labour force whose workers are pliable and multi-skilled, so that they can be employed in more than one area should the situation warrant it.

Until Jamaican unions realise this, Jamaica will continue to lose jobs, jobs and more jobs!

I am, etc.,

GILLIAN CAMPBELL

CEO Market

Opportunities Unlimited

Kingston 19

marketopportunities@yahoo.com

Via Go-Jamaica