The trade union movement has long been trying to represent workers in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, who for the most part are employed under fixed-term and temporary contracts. However, it is quite clear that there has been resistance from the holders of capital in relation to the representation of these workers by the trade union movement.

It is not a wild shot in the dark to make a correlation to lack of representation and the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the sector. This does not imply that the sector is a bad employer, but there are some things that the employer will do voluntarily, and some that must be done by agreement, whether in response to one-off situations or through the collective bargaining arrangement.

The trade union movement is focused on worker protection, while the owners of capital are often focused on profit maximisation. As a trade union leader with a master in business administration, where I focused on international marketing and export strategy, I am acutely aware of the need to balance the two perspectives for a win-win. One cannot help the observation that the profit maximisation motive is a greater drive than any other consideration. Thus, we have precarious work called contract employment.

The trade union leadership has been lobbying for greater worker protection than what is provided under the current laws that support employment and, in particular, contract employment. This is where the business sector, the Government and the society now need to examine what is the best for our local socio-political economy as a subset of the global political economy. Our social dialogue machinery is well established and has solved many problems, but we have been very slow in dealing with the problem of contract employment and its impact on worker protection.

The Decent Work Agenda is prescriptive in its recommendations for workers, and it has a place for the trade union movement and so does the laws of Jamaica in the representation of workers and giving workers a voice in the workplace. This lack of a voice and the precarious nature of the types of contract employment we have in Jamaica, in the context of the profit motive, have impacted the way the BPO sector has responded to the need for worker protection.

There is a fear that a unionised workforce will add to the cost of doing business, but that fear is not borne out of reality. What we have seen is that the presence of a union reinforces the psychological contract between the employer and the employee and leads to a stable work environment and not an unsafe, intimidatory, or toxic one.

If BPO workers had a voice through their trade union representative their concerns regarding COVID-19 could have been raised and management and the worker representative would agree on the most workable solution to ensure worker protection and business continuity. This has been the experience we at the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions have had within those unionised work environments.

The profit motive can be very short-sighted, especially where workers are concerned. Thus, we see and hear how some have not sought to safeguard this asset and now their business (and profit) is at risk in the short, medium, and long term.

The solution is for the social dialogue apparatus to work towards implementing recommendations for the report of the Commission on the Comprehensive Review of the Labour Market. We must also ensure to incorporate the Decent Work Agenda and what is being touted as the New World of Work in the way we seek to develop our labour market. If we fail to do this, we will never achieve our Vision 2030 of our country being a “place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business”. Let our COVID-19 experience teach us lessons for the future.

O’Neil W Grant, MBA, is president of Jamaica Civil Service Association and vice-president of Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or jcsasecretariat@jacisera.org.