“ Price Rite! Whitehall! Mummy, yuh a go up?”

These are the calls of Kingston’s “loader men”, sweaty and bustling in the busy area of the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre, eager to quickly load one taxi so another can take its place.

The issue of loader men in Jamaica has garnered mixed feelings from passengers, taxi drivers, and even the loader men themselves, in recent times.

With some saying that loader men do more harm than good, authorities have said the “profession” is illegal while other people believe the loader men are simply finding a way to make a living like everyone else.

The informal job is not only prevalent in Jamaica but all over the world. In Ethiopia they’re called “cue keepers”, in Malawi they are called “boys”, Zimbabweans label them “call marshalls” and in Guyana, they’re known as “toates”.

Jamaicans, who are all too familiar with the shouts of “one and ready, one and drive”, call them “loader men”.

The loader man takes on the task of loading or guiding people into taxis or buses after querying their destination. Once the vehicle is loaded, the driver pays a fee — typically $50 to $100 per load.

The Jamaica Observer visited the bustling commercial area of Half-Way-Tree in St Andrew recently to find out more about these “loader men”.

The typical consensus among the loader men who were willing to speak is that they have no other skill or source of income to support themselves and their families.

One loader man, popularly known as Andrew, who loads taxis going to Price Rite in the Red Hills Road area, Duhaney Park and Whitehall Avenue said: “I do it for my family. If I never have a youth or a household to feed I wouldn’t do this.”

The 40-year-old explained that he used to be a construction worker on gas station sites but had to stop because no work was available.

“Loading taxi is my only source of income right now, it’s an honest bread and I can make likkle money out of it,” he said.

A taxi driver who was awaiting passengers supported Andrew’s statement, saying that he doesn’t have an issue with loader men because they need to “eat a food” too. “I don’t have a problem giving them a $50 when they come, cause dem have family.”

Despite Andrew’s claim that loader men are just trying to survive, there have been reports in the media that the informal workers, in recent times, have been harassing people as well as obstructing traffic.

However, another loader man at the makeshift taxi stand, who calls himself “Pele”, claimed he has been in the business for more than 22 years and it is the newcomers who cause trouble.

“Sometime dem come out here when dem hungry, and want to load car and if people nuh go in, dem cuss dem,” Pele explained. “Is dem giving we bad name.”

He went on to say that now, especially since the recent upsurge in kidnappings and robbery by men operating so-called taxis, no “new face” loader man can work on the stand.

One commuter, who did not give her name, said at times the loader men can get out of hand.

“Sometimes they hold on to you and they don’t know who is who. Not everybody like that,” she said, adding that the loader men aren’t necessary because commuters know where they are going.

But a taxi driver on the Price Rite route argued that the loader men do more than just load taxis.

“People know the loader men and loader men know the drivers, so if anything ever happens the loader man knows. If a passenger loses something the loader man can tell them, find out whose car dem go in and tell dem who dem must ask,” he said.

“Most time you can’t leave your car go too far, ’cause man will go in and steal things. The loader man see and hear everything, so him can tell you what happen,” he added.

Should the job of loading taxis be regularised?

In an effort to control the activities of loader men the Jamaica Association of Transport Operators and Organisers (JATOO) launched a programme in January 2015.

Head of JATOO, Louis Barton, said the programme was aimed at ensuring that bus operators and sidemen and women carry out their duties in a professional manner.

“With this programme, loader men and women will be easily identified as special vests have been issued to the members,” Barton told the Observer at the time.

The loader men were given orange and neon green vests marked ‘park assistant’.

However, the initiative was soon stamped out by the State-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), which was strongly against plans by the taxi association to train so-called loader men in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region.

The JUTC said there were no such legitimate positions as ‘loader men’ and ‘loader women’ in the public transport sector and threatened to end its recognition of JATOO if it did not stop the programme.

The talk of regularising loader men was well received by some people while others said that it would’ve just been another way to tax them and take their money.

The loader men said they can load between 20 and 70 taxis per day and make a profit of $2,000 — $5,000 per day, depending on how long and how fast they load.

Pele said, depending on how much he tells himself he wants to make, he can adequately provide for his family and save “a likkle change”.

One taxi operator, who gave his name only as Luke, said regulating the loader men would be a good thing as this will enable them to get certified and maybe even help them to apply to entities like the National Housing Trust.

“You cyaan just waan put tax pon dem, put a mechanism in place so that it can help dem in the long run, maybe even teach dem a skill,” he recommended.

However, not all are in favour of the move. A well-known loader man named Zacky in the Price Rite area said he does not want the authorities to implement any form of regulation because taxation is “foolishness”.

Several of the loader men believe that loading taxis is a skill that is acquired over time.

Zacky, who said he has been loading taxis from the 1980s, explained that it’s all about taking care of the people and respecting them in order to earn their respect and trust in placing them in taxis.

“It come een like looking a woman; just sweet dem up and encourage dem to come,” he said..

A commuter nearby agreed, saying that she goes with Zacky because he looks out for her in the mornings when it is rush hour.

But a “sweet mouth” and respect are not all that the loader men use. Another Price Rite loader man, who declined to be named, said he uses his style to attract the passengers.

“Once dem see you clean and look good dem will come too, so that’s my style… ever clean,” he said.

Zacky insists that loading taxis is a respectable hustle and people show loader men respect as long they show respect as well.

“We nuh dark (stupid) out here, we just a mek a likkle money like everybody else,” he said.