KINGSLEY, the former chairman of the National Housing Trust (NHT), on Wednesday criticised local trade unions for not voicing loud enough the issues of globalisation and free trade which are threatening the lives of workers.

Speaking at the quarterly luncheon of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) at the Alhambra Inn, Mountain View Avenue, Kingston, Thomas said voices of the Confederation’s member unions were not being heard loudly enough on critical issues emerging from the economic models being adopted which are not in the best interest of the workers.

“Today, the trade union movement in Jamaica needs not necessarily just to sit down with government, but to stand up for the rights of the workers, in terms of their economic well-being their quality of life and their social security,” Thomas said.

He said that the trade union movement needed to form coalitions within the sector, as well as with other sectors of the society, to press more effectively for the demands of their members and to counter the adoption of economic models which are not in the interest of the workers and the poor.

“I think, honestly, that the voice, the interest, the welfare of the workers of this country is way down on the ladder of economic, social and political priorities and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make this determination. Where has the voice of the workers ‘movement been?” he asked.

“If you don’t come out as representatives of the workers and toe to toe with the JMA (Jamaica Manufactures Association) and the JEF (Jamaica Employer’s Federation), and whosoever we need to take on, the workers themselves may feel that they have been deserted,” he added.

He said that recent developments in countries like France and Britain had triggered a new look at the policies being “forced down the throats” of countries by certain institutions whose leadership and whose technocrats didn’t even have a country beholden to. He claimed that most technocrats at international institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the Inter-American Bank (IDB) were “runaways” from their own countries.

He said that while Jamaica could take comfort from the fact that the problems were not unique, it should also learn the lesson that the policies which started with Reagan’s “trickle down” economics are not to the benefit of the workers.

“The policies which started with new phraseologies, such as globalization, are not necessarily to the benefit of the workers,” Thomas said. “A whole lot of countries have said, ‘no way, we are not going ahead with these things.”

He said that there was evidence to show that since the introduction of these policies, with the own admission of the IDB, the World Bank and the IMF, the lot of the poor has increased. However, he warned that people were getting serious and noted that presidents like Venezuela’s Chavez and Brazil’s Lula were taking stands against aspects of globalisation.

He said that Jamaica needed to search for a comparative rather than a competitive advantage, but to capitalize on the comparative advantage a number of things had to be dealt with, including crime and getting the workers prepared for a new tomorrow.

“It is my view, and it may be wrong, that the trade union movement in Jamaica collectively has not, based on its strength not only in numbers, but in terms of the quality of the workers they represent, applied themselves to the macro issues to the extent that it ought to be done,” he concluded.