Flexible work rules could help with economic recovery, says trade unionist
WITH Jamaica slowly readjusting to normality and the economy showing signs of recovery, trade unionist Kavan Gayle is insisting that the Government implement flexible work arrangements (FWAS), as a priority.
Gayle, a government senator and president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), believes that the current challenges, sparked by the spread of the novel coronavirus and the ensuing pandemic, has created the perfect environment for flexibility.
“This is a low-hanging fruit which has been hanging for more than a quarter of a century now, and it deserves to be given a chance to work on a much wider basis than it has been, since the Act came into being in 2014,” he noted.
Flexible work arrangements were introduced as a fundamental feature of the Jamaica Labour Market Reform process, starting in 1994. It was developed to recommend strategies to assist Jamaica to become competitive in the international economy. However, some cultural changes it projected, including treating Sundays as a normal work day, fed objections to the policy, especially from some churches.
It took two decades of discussions between joint select committees of Parliament, government representatives, the private sector, church and trade unions, before a ministry paper was tabled in Parliament in November 2013, paving the way for legislative support for the idea. A Bill entitled The Employment (Flexible Work Arrangements) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act was tabled in the House of Representatives in March 2014, to set the tone for its formal implementation.
The Bill, basically, changed the definition of overtime work, as it would no longer be calculated after 8 hours of work daily but after 40 hours of work. Workers would be able to complete their 40-hour week within any number days preferred and free themselves to pursue other activities outside those hours.
Senator Gayle believes that the pandemic has opened the eyes of more Jamaican workers, including those working from home, to the value of a flexible work arrangement, and the opportunities it provides them to be able to plan their family lives and meet other essential commitments, at their leisure.
“The COVID crisis has created a crucial need for more attention to be paid to expanding the use of the FWAS in businesses, as well, and allow for a reversal of the thousands of job losses which have affected the workers since the crisis started,” Gayle noted.
“The Jamaican employment regime is inflexible, which means workers are simply provided with a contract of employment stipulating their days and hours of work, without any opportunity to choose the hours or the space in which they can have the freedom to perform their tasks and tend to their families without creating any dislocation,” Gayle said.
“The implementation of flexible work hours can effectively facilitate and promote the freedom of both employers and employees, who can work with the trade union movement to select and negotiate the times and places to work that best suit both parties,” he stated.
However, he admitted that a flexible work arrangement will place the responsibility on supervisors, as well as the people directly under their supervision, and will require greater levels of trust, confidence and teamwork among all parties within the working group.
“Managers and staff would be free to vary their work schedule to suit their particular service or delivery needs. But, the essential principle of any flexible arrangement must be that ‘work comes first’. Therefore, service to customers, whether internal or external, must not suffer as a result of any flexible work arrangement that is introduced,” Gayle noted.