Across Jamaica, and much of the world, workers are struggling — working harder, producing more, yet receiving less. Prices are rising, wages are stagnant, and the quality of goods and services continue to decline. This is no accident. It’s the inevitable outcome of a system designed not to serve people, but to extract value from them.

At the core of this system lies a deeply flawed principle: The primary and overriding duty of a corporation is to maximise shareholder value — by any means necessary.

This ideology was cemented in the late 20th century, driven by thinkers like Milton Friedman and reinforced by landmark US legal decisions. And let’s be clear about what that means: If cutting wages, raising prices, laying off staff, offshoring jobs, gutting product quality, polluting the environment, or exploiting vulnerable labour markets helps boost quarterly profits — then those actions aren’t just allowed; they’re encouraged.

This toxic ideology didn’t stay in boardrooms in New York or London. It made its way to the Caribbean, and Jamaica is living through the fallout. Local businesses, driven by the same profit-first logic, have followed suit — cutting corners on labour, keeping wages painfully low, and pushing productivity without matching compensation. It is common to see a job posting for one worker with a job description requiring the worker perform the job of three to four people.

Even as Jamaican workers face rising cost of living, many companies, even when profitable, refuse to raise wages or improve conditions. Instead, they claim there’s a “skills shortage”— a convenient excuse to avoid paying people fairly for hard work. But make no mistake: There is no shortage of capable Jamaican workers. There is a shortage of decent-paying jobs.

Enter William Mahfood, chairman of the Wysynco Group, who recently proposed importing Haitian workers to fill so-called labour gaps. On the surface this sounds like a practical solution, but it is a thinly veiled attempt to sidestep wage growth and maintain a low-wage economy by outsourcing desperation.

This isn’t a labour solution — it’s a labour suppression strategy.

Mahfood’s proposal should be condemned for what it is: a race to the bottom. Rather than improving wages and conditions to attract local talent, the business elite would prefer to exploit a more desperate labour pool. Why pay Jamaicans a fair wage when you can fly in workers from a poorer country who will work for less and say less?

This is not innovation. This is not economic development. This is exploitation, plain and simple.

Importing cheaper labour may reduce costs for employers in the short term, but the long-term consequences are dire: wages stagnate even further for Jamaicans; young people lose incentive to invest in skills training or education for jobs that don’t pay; communities hollow out as jobs become transient and labour becomes commodified; and social tensions rise, pitting locals against migrants in a system designed to exploit both.

Meanwhile, corporate profits grow, shareholder returns soar, and executives celebrate “efficiency” while the real economy — in which people live, work, and struggle — decays.

To build a fair economy, Jamaica must prioritise paying living wages that match the actual cost of living. It should invest in training and upskilling local workers, view labour as a vital partner in national growth, and reject exploitative labour practices that depend on desperation instead of respecting human dignity.

We are all underpaid — not just because the economy is broken, but because it was deliberately designed to be this way. The modern CEO, under the doctrine of shareholder primacy, is rewarded not for building great companies or serving the public good, but for extracting as much value as possible from everyone and everything — staff, customers, environment — without accountability.

This model has failed. And it will continue to fail unless we demand better — from our leaders, our institutions, and ourselves.

It’s time to reject the idea that shareholder value is the only value that matters. It’s time to stop importing poverty to maintain profit margins. It’s time to start building an economy in which everyone — not just the powerful few — gets a fair share of the value they help create.

gentlesadrean123@gmail.com