Lambert Brown, Guest ColumnistThis week's concessions by the Air Jamaica pilots represented by the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), have saved the little piece of Jamaica that flies from sudden collapsing
Once again, the Jamaican workers have had to make serious sacrifices to save another company from inept management decisions. Last year, it was the MoU that saved the
country from having the Minister of Finance imposing more taxes on the Jamaican people. But for the militant stance of Dwight Nelson, the arrogance of the leadership of the current Air Jamaica board may have again cost Jamaica dearly, not only at Air Jamaica but also in the national economy with the certain crash of the MoU.
Make no bones about it, if the BITU pulls out of the MoU as they threatened to do, there is no way the agreement could survive. You can ignore all the pretty talk about dialogue by some union leaders, the reality is that the BITU is a fundamental part of the MoU.
The other union leaders could not survive the anger and defection of their members who at best currently, are only reluctantly following their leaders in support of the MoU.
There are many voices that have waged a consistent campaign for the destruction of the MoU. They see only the immediate wage restraint to the public sector
workers, this moreso coming after the Government had awarded themselves significant salary increases.
Compelling case
These opponents of the MoU also quite
correctly pointed to the breach of the agreement, with the inflation figure surpassing the single-digit target by nearly 50 per cent.
In addition, the new increased general consumption tax is mentioned as another burden on the deprived public sector workers. Above all, these people have warned that the Government should not be trusted to keep their end of the bargain.
They argue that the Government is like a scorpion. No matter how you help it out of a difficult spot, it will turn around and sting you. After all, they say, it is the nature of the 'scorpion' to sting. The truth must be admitted. The opponents of the MOU have a very strong and compelling case.
On the other hand, there are those like myself who, while sharing much of the
misgivings of the MoU opponents, recognise the strategic imperative of having a MoU not to save the 'scorpion' from its predicament, but to save the country from destruction.
We recognise that in entering into the MoU, we must keep our eyes focused on protecting the rights and benefits of the Jamaican workers. We will never forget the cruelty done to over 700 correctional officers who dared to expose and oppose governmental-supported
incompetence and slackness in the prisons.
Neither will we forget the anti-worker
position adopted by this government and its agents in supporting the
termination of the hundreds of Jamalco workers in Clarendon.
While we recall the 'scorpion-like' reaction of the Government in abandoning the MoU in the bauxite sector once it achieved its objective, we must ensure that, in the public sector MoU, this does not happen.
In a sense, the 'scorpion' must lose its sting if it wants to be carried to safety. This is
exactly what Dwight Nelson and the Air Jamaica pilots did last week when it appeared that the dangerous fang of the 'scorpion' was about to unleash its venom on another set of Jamaican workers.
Someone had to stand up and say 'enough is enough' in the use of raw political power to crush the legitimate and just struggles of the workers. When first they came for prison
officers, as a people we kept our 'damn mouth shut' because we were not prison officers.
Then they came for junior doctors and we kept our mouth shut because we were not doctors. The same happened when they came for Jamalco workers and medical technologists. So, we were about to do the same when like birds of prey, they circled the pilots. If they had succeeded, then no worker would be safe in his or her job in Jamaica.
Times are changing. The unions are somewhat more united today than they were in 2001. That is not to say that there are not still some differences between them, based in some respect on political affiliations, and in some cases, who pays the piper. The current MoU has given the people, through the trade unions, some leverage, even enough to successfully overcome the most powerful of board chairmen.
Protector from the government
Once again, the trade unions must become the guardians of our democracy and the
protector of our people from governmental and employer abuse. The trade unions in both the Air Jamaica dispute and the MoU in the public sector, have shown a willingness to make
sacrifices and cooperate for the national good. Both the private sector and Government must step up to the plate and make their concessions in the interest of the country. Prices and taxes must also be restrained, as workers' wages have been.
On Tuesday, the monitoring committee of the MoU will meet to review the agreement after one year of operation. The government, fresh from its 'Santa Claus' budget, must find better ways to ease the pressure on the public sector workers. It must implement all its
commitments for training under the MoU. More importantly, like the Air Jamaica pilots, the government must demonstrate real
cutback in its own emoluments and not increasing benefits to themselves as well as genetically-connected friends and party hacks.
On the part of the workers, they must seize all the training possibilities and opportunities because 'MoU or no MoU' many of the existing jobs are obsolete and will be discarded in the present or at best, the very near future. The fact is that, whether we like it or not, there will not be some jobs and, therefore, no wage increase possible. In the absence of mass protest by the people against the hardships they are facing, it is incumbent on the unions to continue using the MoU as a tool to ensure good, efficient government, protection of workers' jobs and hopefully help to save the country from a set of leaders who do not seem to know how to motivate a country out of the morass they have led us into.
Lambert Brown is first
vice-president of the University and
Allied Workers' Union and may
be contacted at Labpoyh@yahoo.com
