SECURITY FIRMS and trade unions have agreed to the establishment of a Joint Industrial Council (JIC) for the security industry and are to begin work on July 11 on formulating a constitution for the body.
Agreement was reached last Thursday for the establishment of a three-member committee to formulate the JIC constitution during a meeting involving Minister of Labour, Dean Peart, representatives of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Union (JCTU) as well as the Jamaica Society for Industrial Security (JSIS), which represents security firms.
One representative each will be drawn from the security industry, the trade union movement and the Ministry of Labour to make up the committee that will draft the constitution.
Last Thursday's meeting was a follow-up to earlier discussions in which Minister Peart proposed the formation of the JIC.
A source close to the discussions told The Gleaner last week that all the parties bought into the proposal for the establishment of the body but were eager to ensure that it did not go the way of the former JIC for the industry.
George Overton, president of the JSIS could not be reached for comment last week. However, in a recent interview, he argued that the body was pushing for safeguards to ensure that the Government would not be able to overturn or bypass decisions made by the JIC.
Mr. Overton said the decline of the JIC started in 1986 when the then Government legislated new minimum wages for the industry after the JIC had already announced wages for the sector. Following this, the JIC continued its decline and eventually became defunct in the 1990s.
The JIC, comprising representatives of the Government, trade unions and employers, would be responsible for promoting the development of the security industry, improving the conditions of employment for security guards, and encouraging co-operation between all the parties involved in the industry.
The Gleaner understands that the parties have agreed to put on hold issues emanating from amendments to the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA) until the JIC has been established.
Under the new LRIDA, security guards, who have traditionally been treated as contractors, will now be dealt with as permanent employees. They will therefore be entitled to all the benefits due to employees, including vacation leave and overtime payments.
However, security companies have consistently argued that they will not be able to absorb the costs associated with the changes to the labour law nor would they be able to pass them on to their clients. It's against this background that they initially sought the intervention of the Ministry to resolve the issue.
