KINGSTON, Jamaica—With issues relating to labour spread across different ministries, Opposition Spokesman on Labour and Sport, Wavell Hinds, is proposing the creation of what he calls the Ministry of Labour and Workforce Development.

“All workforce training, legal protections, and certification programmes belong under one administrative roof, ensuring every working person has unhindered structural access to economic advancement,” said Hinds.

He was speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday during his contribution to the 2026/27 Sectoral Debate.

He told the House that, “A foundational flaw in our current labour framework is the chaotic fragmentation of how we manage our working people. Essential components of workforce capacity are scattered across separate, uncoordinated siloes”.

Hinds noted that employment matters are isolated under the Office of the Prime Minister, skills issues sit under the Ministry of Education, and industrial relations and general labour issues are handled by the Ministry of Labour.

“This bureaucratic scatter means that our workforce has no centralised access to support. If an individual needs upskilling, registration, or dispute resolution, they are forced to navigate an uncoordinated maze of separate state agencies,” he said.

According to Hinds, this requires the implementation of several key localised measures, including but not limited to making adult upskilling and digital literacy certification programmes more accessible, especially to those living in rural Jamaica.

Hinds said the Opposition recommends a robust labour policy comprising a long-term national development framework that connects education, employment, productivity, worker protection, business growth, and social mobility.

“Such a strategy must first acknowledge Jamaica’s harsh realities. We are a country where many workers struggle with functional literacy and digital skills, while at the same time, thousands of highly-educated Jamaicans are underemployed, migrating, or trapped in systems with limited upward mobility,” said the first-term Member of Parliament for Clarendon Northern.

“We have sectors where the rights of our labourers are poorly enforced, informal employment is widespread, and too many employers still operate with minimal accountability,” he added.

He urged the Government to debate and pass the long-delayed Occupational Safety and Health Bill.

“This vital piece of legislation has been dragged through the corridors of bureaucracy by this Administration for three consecutive terms. Generation-after-generation of Jamaican workers have gone to their graves waiting for modern safety laws.

While the government continues to delay, our citizens, especially those in the rapidly expanding construction sector, are stepping onto job sites without adequate, modern legislative protection, risking their lives in workplaces that remain dangerously underregulated,” said Hinds.

“That is not administrative delay; it is policy negligence,” he declared.

—Lynford Simpson