PEOPLE’S National Party spokesman on labour and social security Horace Dalley says the Opposition is willing to support Government in passing legislation to end the problem of contract work in Jamaica and offer more protection to the local workforce.

He described the new wave of ‘contract work’ as oppressive, exploitative and unfair in the system of employment relations, saying the system denies workers basic rights such as vacation leave, maternity leave and sick leave.

Using the recent tragedy of Odean Wood, who died from an explosion at the JPS Rockfort Plant in April, the Opposition spokesman said too many Jamaican workers were being forced to accept employment as contract workers, in violation of the Labour Relations Code of 1976, which offers workers protection through the right to representation.

Dalley also said that the Opposition would be going to court to seek a declaratory judgement on the issue of contract work. This group of workers, which number approximately 27,000 – 30,000, is suffering because of their classification as contractors, Dalley said.

“Security guards performing their duties in thousands of locations, at all hours of the day and night, but receive no maternity leave, no pension, no time-off, no vacation leave; and, when they take an hour out of a day or take a day to attend to urgent family matters, they lose the day’s pay,” Dalley told his colleagues in Parliament.

The Opposition spokesman said failure to address the issue would be a step backward as workers’ benefits were won in the 1938 strikes, when Jamaican workers resisted exploitative relationships at the workplace.

He also highlighted the fact that, hundreds of contract employees who have worked for up to 30 years were due to retire this year without any pension benefit. This, he said, must be described as exploitation.