'Social contract must be addressed'

SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Employers Federation, Peter Hall, has urged all key players in the Jamaican economy to address the issue of a social contract.

During his presentation last Thursday at the Nurses Association of Jamaica's/Blue Cross of Jamaica first Wellness Awards Ceremony, at the Terra Nova Hotel, Waterloo Road, Kingston, he said the business sector itself needs to find the critical elements in that agenda that need to be taken forward before its taken over "literally" by other countries in the Caribbean.

Mr. Hall told the audience, comprising health practitioners and representatives from the Ministry of Finance who had turned out to witness a presentation to nurse Shawnon Francis of Falmouth Hospital in Trelawny, the first recipient of the Nurses Association of Jamaica's/Blue Cross of Jamaica Wellness award.

He explained that Jamaica did not have to start with a whole set of complicated laws because "it's about engaging people on simple principles about how we should go forward."

He referred to countries like Barbados and Santo Domingo which he said did not have the resources that Jamaica has, but yet they had growth.

"Our public service is light years ahead of theirs in terms of the expertise and knowledge of the people and quality of people that we have here. But we cannot get our act together here," he said.

Mr. Hall pointed out that these countries and Trinidad and Tobago have some understanding about how they are going to carry forward their national agenda and as a result, their economies have been growing. He added that inflation was under 10 per cent in Trinidad and under 5 per cent in Barbados.

"We must recognise that if we don't change in this environment, this will not happen. We will continue to have negative growth (and) foreign investment in the country will be minimal (and) transient."

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