DANNY Roberts, director of the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute, says Jamaica needs specific legislation to protect people working under fixed-term contracts, temporary employees, and unskilled workers.

“The scope of any labour market reform must be the protection of our workers, including temporary and part-time,” he said, noting examples of managers being kept on three-month contracts which are renewed for extended periods.

Roberts was speaking at a recent Workers’ Week panel discussion hosted by the Ministry of Labour and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston.

He said the time had long come for specific legislation, given that labour market institutions have been weakened due to changes in the terms of employment in the workplace, or “organisational adaptations” over the years, such as tailor-made contractual arrangements.

He further pointed out the disadvantages faced by the unskilled worker, referring to the International Labour Organisation’s 2014

World of Work Report, which describes these categories of workers as being: ‘trapped in a vicious circle of low-productivity occupations, poor remuneration and limited ability to invest in their families’ health and education, which in turn dampens overall development and growth prospects, not only for themselves but for generations to follow’.

Said Roberts: “The very nature of the contractual relationship which we have inherited under globalisation doesn’t even provide the necessary statutory protection for unskilled workers. Many of them are faced with new contract arrangements which deny them the benefit of redundancy, invariably they are without any health insurance coverage and they are denied overtime payment, and in many instances, they can’t even make a justifiable claim for unjustifiable dismissal because all the employer has to do is await the end of the contract period and not renew it,” he explained.

Roberts argued that, over time, there have been attempts to “interfere” with the country’s employment protection legislation. “There is this notion that the employer ought to be given the right to fire and hire. We have seen where attempts have been made to repeal the Maternity Leave Act (and) the Redundancy Payment Act, etc,” he said.

Reform of the country’s labour market is therefore crucial, he insisted, emphasising that the scope of any such reform must be the protection of workers, including temporary and part-time employees. “The reform process has to continue to ensure that there is lawfulness of dismissal, and give regard to notice period and probationary periods,” said Roberts.

According to the findings of the UNDP’s Human Development Report for 2015, on which trade unionists and other stakeholders deliberated at the forum, in the world of work globalisation has “generated gains for some and losses for others”.

The survey, themed ‘Work for Human Development’, further pointed out that the digital revolution has created new opportunities, but also given rise to new challenges such as irregular contracts and short-term work, “which are asymmetrically distributed between highly skilled and unskilled workers”.

— Alphea Saunders