Sabbaths Safe
MONTEGO BAY, St James-Government will not allow Christians to be penalised under a flexi-work week arrangement.
“I have been instructed by the prime minister to examine the flexible work week carefully. I must be assured that nobody is going to take Seven Day Adventist and put him to work Saturdays knowing say him can’t come so mek him lose him work,” said Labour Minister Pearnel Charles.
Charles, who was speaking at the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Western Leadership Conference at the West Jamaica Conference centre in Montego Bay Sunday, warned employers that their Christian employees had a divine supervisor – God Almighty – so they should not attempt to sabotage them.
“I say to the employer, don’t undermine the conscience of the Christian man or woman because he has two supervisors and he works hard.
President of West Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Pastor Glen Samuels welcomed government’s stance.
“Persons should never be fired because of their religious conviction. If the person is dishonest, fine, if they are sculling their work, fine, but I will argue for the man whether he keeps his Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday he should be allowed to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience and his job should never be penalised, he said, pointing to a problem being experienced by air hostesses who attend his church.
“The air hostesses have to go to work on a Saturday. The programme has to be that they operate a shift system so that people are allowed to maintain their conviction,” he said.
The business community has long been lobbying for a flexi-work week to replace the basic nine to five structure that exists, saying it could improve productivity and cut operating costs.
At the core of the proposed flexible work arrangement is the classification of “all seven days” as “normal work days”, and each work day consisting of a maximum of 10 or 12 hours. The work week is to consist of 40 hours, after which overtime pay will be earned.
But the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been concerned that the changes could create problems for its members wishing to worship on Fridays or Saturdays.
