Happy International Labour Day! Let’s Protect our Workers!

The Jamaica Peace Council wishes the Jamaican workers a happy International Labour Day, otherwise called May Day, which is celebrated all over the world on May 1.

Our workers do not get enough credit for their contribution to building our country but they are the first casualty when private companies and the public sector seek to improve efficiency, achieve targets and guarantee higher profits to shareholders. As organisations downsize more and more, the average worker’s job description is expanded to encompass two, three or many more roles. 

One wonders why today’s workers in Jamaica have not followed the tradition of resistance that gave birth to the trade union movement and our two major political parties, the People’s National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The reality is that workers’ representation has been undermined by measures that prevent unionization. One of these measures is contract work. Most frontline and even some supervisory staff are hired on short term contracts which make it difficult or perhaps impossible for them to be unionized. Although these contracts may be renewed, organisations make deliberate efforts to dance around the labour laws by ensuring that there are adequate breaks in rehiring contract staff. This creates an environment in which the workers have no voice and they are forced to accept very unfavourable working conditions. Another disadvantage of contract work is that most of the workers have no benefits and the women do not get maternity leave.

This contract work scenario is not the exclusive experience of Jamaican workers. It exists on a wide scale in other countries, including the United States. One of the companies which has been in the news lately about its unfavourable working conditions is Amazon, headed by Jeff Bezos who has become the richest man in the world. This wealth was not created by some magical ability. It was created by workers who are paid an infinitesimal portion of the value they create.

May Day presents us with an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the labour movement, the need to restore the strength of the trade unions and urgent task of blocking organisations, foreign and local, from circumventing our labour laws. Ensuring that our workers are treated with respect, dignity and fairness and are allowed to organize in trade unions is a key element of building a peaceful society.