The call by the leadership of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) for there to be a reduction in the time spent celebrating the abolishment of slavery and the attainment of Independence from British rule has generated widespread discussions in Jamaica, land we love, and it must be said that this is a matter that should be widely discussed.

The PSOJ maintains that its proposal is not a flippant one, but it is aimed at enhancing productivity by reducing the time spent with these celebrations.

The essence of the proposal of the PSOJ is that the holidays designated for the abolishment of slavery and Independence celebrations should be somewhat combined or “joined together”, thereby saving time and resulting in more time being spent on production.

I support any effort to reduce time wasted that can be spent to enhance productivity. I am, therefore, suggesting to the PSOJ that the greatest time wasted now in Jamaica is having thousands of Jamaicans lining up at the entrance to banks, sitting in banks, waiting for hours to be attended to, and lining up along the street side, whether in the rain or in the boiling sun, waiting to gain access to their money from an automated teller machine (ATM).

The PSOJ should speak to its members who are bankers and urge them to extend decency, courtesy, and respect to account holders who are now treated like dregs and slaves unworthy of shelter from the elements, unworthy of being provided with seats, and unworthy of being attended to expeditiously. Just about all account holders are treated in the most humiliating way any business entity could treat its customers.

The PSOJ should address this matter forthwith. They should start by informing us if they agree with the conduct of the banks in the way they are treating their customers or if they are prepared to demand that the banks change this policy of daily humiliation to which Jamaicans are being subjected.

Above all, in the interest of the optimal use of productive hours they should urge the banks to implement a policy that will see account holders and customers getting attended to quickly so that they can go back to their places of work and enhance productivity and minimise the loss of production time.

The abolishment of slavery is the most important holiday for the descendants of slaves. Leave it alone!

lpgordon@cwjamaica.com