A recent announcement about plans to remove windscreen wipers from the roads and enroll them in skills training is not sitting well with some of the wipers who stated that previous attempts at reformation yielded little impact.

The crackdown on the long-standing practice of windscreen wiping and other forms of solicitation at major intersections was announced at a recent meeting of the National Security Council.

According to authorities, there has been an increase in altercations between motorists and windscreen wipers, with incidents of extortion-like behaviour and cases where motorists, particularly women, feel intimidated when approached.

The decision to remove the windscreen wipers and enroll them in skills training is aimed at improving public safety and the welfare of the mostly young men.

However, two windscreen wipers told the Jamaica Observer that in 2019 the Government launched a three-week Windscreen Wiper Intervention Initiative that focused on training and mentorship of unattached young men who found employment at traffic lights across the Corporate Area.

The programme exposed the men to sessions on civics, conflict management, family life management and career development. Participants were also exposed to the necessary skills, behaviour and attitude to promote their personal growth and development.

Fourteen windscreen wipers were said to have completed the programme that was a collaborative effort among the HEART/NSTA Trust, the National Service Corps Programme, the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) Programme, Jamaica Constabulary Force, and the private sector.

One of the men who completed the programme and received a certificate said it did little to help him tackle financial hardships and reform his lifes. He soon found himself back on the streets.

“Them do it already and nothing never come out of it, so we have to end up reach back here because we nah go do nothing wrong. We prefer come in the sun and look to give the kids them food,” said the windscreen wiper who requested anonymity.

“From that me nuh see them give we any further class so we have to be here a work. The construction site work nuh really work, and because we don’t have certain training they shame wi and run we off the site. When we deh right here so now we can make $2,000 or $3,000 a day and we can feed wi kids them and go home, but differently we nuh give any trouble. We are trying to build a life,” he said.

The man disclosed that he started windscreen wiping when he was 16 years old to help his single mother make ends meet, after his father’s death.

“A lot more people did deh here. Who nuh gone a foreign move on and are doing different things, so that is what we are trying to do. We don’t want to be here forever,” he lamented.

He has been arrested by police officers three times, but he always comes back to the streets because other options have failed him, he added, urging the Government to show more sympathy and see things from their perspective.

“We nah harass nobody. Is honest bread we a look. We nah rob and thief,” he said, and dismissed reports of harassment.

Another windscreen wiper, who said he had been on the streets since he was 11 years old, recounted starting out as a beggar to help his family. However, when his child-like charm wore off he said he bought some soap and a wiper.

“This alone me have to do, me a tell you the honest truth. I don’t have anything more. It’s not that we don’t want work but me is a man who have three youth — two daughters and a son. When I have to finance them now, it a guh hard for me because if me get work, the first week on the work me have to trust [credit] to bring me guh work; and when mi get pay, that come een like me nuh get pay because me have to go pay back the shop people. That’s why me out here so, weh faster,” he explained.

He shared that, on average, he makes $4,000 to $8,000 per day wiping windscreens, and around $15,000 a day during the holiday season. He also denied reports that windscreen wipers have been harassing motorists and insisted that he has a loyal set of motorists that “love him”. As evidence, he added that for Easter he received 10 buns from his regular windscreen customers.

“Every minute them [police] lock we up and bring we go station, hold we for two days or the whole day, and then let we go and tell we don’t come out here again. When them look, by the next week is we again up here because we have youth, and them have to eat and them have to go school,” he told the Observer.

“We woulda love to get work but the minimum wage that we a guh get as the pay, it nuh make sense,” he said.

Another windscreen wiper suggested that the Government should meet with them to discuss a way forward.

“You cyaa just seh you a guh take wi off the road and put wi in programme. You have to talk to wi first and understand where we are coming from, because wah unuh a go come with nah go work for us,’’ he said.

Another man suggested that windscreen wipers be regulated and given shirts to make their business more official.

While windscreen cleaning itself is not illegal in Jamaica, police officers have previously arrested individuals involved in the practice on charges such as obstruction of traffic, solicitation, aggressive behaviour, and property damage.

In August 2016 authorities reported the arrest of 35 men in a targeted operation against illegal street activities. Nineteen individuals were apprehended at Portia Simpson Miller Square while another 16 were picked up at various intersections around the Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew, area.

Two windscreen wipers who said they were enrolled in the Windscreen Wipers Intervention Initiative have returned to the streets. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

In August 2016 authorities reported the arrest of 35 men in a targeted operation against illegal street activities. Nineteen individuals were apprehended at Portia Simpson Miller Square while another 16 were picked up at various intersections around the Half-Way-Tree area. (Photos: Naphtali Junior)