The Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year and, according to recently elected president, Kavan Gayle, while the union looks forward to a social partnership it will only do so with certain preconditions.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding has been urging a social partnership involving the government, the opposition, the private sector, the trade unions and civil society in order to guarantee cooperation for social and economic development. But, according to Gayle, the BITU will demand certain preconditions, including observing the right of all workers to join trade unions.

"Workers have a right to join the union of its choice and that must be a precondition for any social partnership," Gayle said.

Gayle says that he will be seeking to have the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA), and other major labour relations legislation, reviewed this year to increase protection for workers and their trade unions.

His timely pronouncement comes in the wake of Minister of Labour and Social Security, Pearnel Charles' statement to Parliament, last Wednesday that he intends to finalise the programme of amendments to the labour laws started by the previous government but stalled over the past two years.

Charles said that his ministry will also be looking at amendments to the Employment Termination and Redundancy Act as well as the proposed flexible work week arrangements.

Gayle says that the revision of the labour laws is essential if the trade unions are to continue to provide effective representation for their members.

"One of the most important pieces of legislation that needs to be looked at is the LRIDA and especially the provisions regarding union recognition," Gayle said.

"There are too many loopholes, including the need for timeframes to meet the requirements of the Act. Over the last few years we have faced numerous challenges in this area from employers, including the St Ann Bauxite Company where we have been waiting for a poll for over a year now," he added.

He noted that despite the amendment to the LRIDA to include a new definition of a worker, which deliberately sought to protect contract workers including those in the private security sector, the change has been of little benefit to workers.

"Employers contract the services of legal consultants who use every possible means to frustrate workers trying to become unionised, including objecting to the categories of workers who can join unions," he said.

Gayle said that, for the future, the union will be focusing on the service sector to maintain its position as the leading trade union in the region.

"Our objective is to maximise membership and we will be looking mainly at the service sector, because 70 per cent of the growth in the economy has been recorded in that sector," Gayle said Friday.

"However, that does not mean that we will be compromising our membership in the industrial sector. We intend to remain competitive in that sector and continue to seek higher standards for those workers, as well," he added.

Gayle assumed leadership of the union last November after its three main leaders - Ruddy Spencer, president, Dwight Nelson, senior vice-president and Pearnel Charles, vice-president - resigned to take up cabinet responsbilities in the new Jamaica Labour Party(JLP) administration.

Since becoming president -following in the footstep of illustrious trade unionists like the union's founder, Sir Alexander Bustamante, former Prime Minister Hugh Shearer, and the current Minister of Health, Spencer - he has focused on areas of expanding its support and membership across the local labour landscape as well as its influence across the Caribbean.

"Our goal is to continue to be the number one trade union in the English-speaking Caribbean in terms of membership, and we have also become the leading trade union in the region in terms of the support that we give to regional unions and the influence we have in the region," he claimed.

He noted that a number of officers of the union, including vice-president Alvin Sinclair and general secretary George Fyffe were involved in regional trade unionism, as well as himself, an officer of the Union Network International(UNI), the eight-year-old skills and services international with 15.5 million members.

He said that he has been building a strong "trade union team" capable of significantly improving the quality of service it provides for its members.

"We are building a cadre of officers and staff who will be able to give our members the quality of service they demand," he said.

He said that training has become a very important aspect of the programme and will ensure that an adequately trained staff is created.

The BITU was founded in May, 1938 in the midst of the most significant workers' crisis to hit Jamaica.

After settling a strike by Kingston dockworkers on May 19, Bustamante was confronted with another strike on the port, this time by United Fruit Company dock workers who refused to load the company's ships.

By May 24, Bustamante and his deputy, St William Grant, were remanded in custody. They were charged with inciting unlawful assembly and obstructing the police. They were refused bail and according to reports, "were tormented by being stripped down to their underwear."

Both men were set free by the courts on May 28, after the intervention of another national hero, Norman Manley, a lawyer.

On his release Bustamante set about forming the BITU, and five years later formed the JLP, as well.

Gayle have had links to both the trade union and the party and he was one of the founding members of the JLP's young professional wing, Generation 2000 (G2K), prior to assuming presidency of the union and has emerged as the youngest current trade union leader in Jamaica.

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