THE POLICE DEMAND for a new wage package poses special problems for workers who have the vital responsibility to maintain law and order. As such the members of the Force are not covered by the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA). In fact, policemen are prohibited by law from joining trade unions; and the Police Federation is established under the Constabulary Act so the membership can make the relevant representations to the Commissioner of Police or the Minister of National Security.
In such circumstances the strident demands made at the Federation's annual conference in Ocho Rios can be understood as platform rhetoric to hurdle the constraints of the fragile Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) involving some trade unions.
The argument that they did not sign this understanding is irrelevant since the Federation is not a union in the legal sense. But they are faced with the importance the Government has placed on keeping the MoU intact to protect its economic policies and targets.
Implicit in the Federation's militancy is a tacit threat of industrial action. But even then the Government can fall back on a 1986 amendment of the LRIDA which gives the Minister power to prohibit industrial action in the national interest.
Specifically, if it appears that there could be grave injury to the national economy, national security, or serious risk of public disorder, an application can be made to the Supreme Court for the relevant restraining order.
We have sought to outline the legal framework in which any resolution of the wage dispute should be reasonably achieved. In short, the Police Federation should heed the admonition of the Minister of National Security to resume negotiations. That surely is an invitation which should be accepted instead of the curious rhetoric about police earning revenue for the Government in the course of enforcing the traffic laws on the road. That is tantamount to inviting the government to increase traffic fines, for example, to boost revenue inflows.
Police must behave like guardians of the Law instead of appearing set to break it if their demands are not met.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
