Carvell N. McLeary | Can we just get along? Please?

Jamaica doesn’t need to introduce social partnership approaches, the cooperative arrangement of organised groups (International Labour Organization ILO recommendation). The national framework exists.

Since 2009, the National Partnership Council has convened with Government, Opposition, private sector, trade unions, and civil society discussing economic and social issues. Several partnership agreements were produced, including the 2022-2026 Partnership for Jamaica’s Strong and Sustainable Recovery.

The Jamaica Productivity Centre is another partnership example. And, in August 2026, the Government and JCTU demonstrated that constructive negotiation works, and signed a public-sector wage agreement (April 1, 2025,to March 31, 2028). The JCTU President, St Patrice Ennis, described the negotiations as calm, cordial, without rancour. This is exemplary, as any major negotiation that concludes without ‘drama’, that is, an emergency press conference, or blocking the Ministry of Finance and Public Service’ gates, deserves study.

So, the social partnership platform exists, it just lacks downward propagation to industries/sectors and workplaces.

‘HOW THE WAR BEGAN’

In building cooperation among employer/management and unions/labour, we must consider ‘how the war began’. Jamaica’s industrial relations emerged from an economic history ‘nurtured’ by slavery, colonialism, and extreme inequality between capital and labour.

Trade unions received legal recognition in 1919 but remained relatively weak. In the 1930s, poor wages and terrible working conditions created angst and by 1938, strikes and protests spread throughout industries. The Frome sugar estate disturbance became a defining event. From these struggles, a more organised labour movement arose. First, the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, and later the National Workers’ Union, and others.

The unions achieved improvements in workers’ wages and helped advance minimum employment standards, paid holidays, regulated working hours, collective bargaining, and adult suffrage. So, our unions aren’t troublesome, uninvited guests, who wandered into our workplaces. They were summoned by workers, who needed an organised voice in the unequal power system.

Having this national social partnership won’t automatically produce cooperative interactions ‘downstream’ as our memories are intact. Employers/managers continually see unions as obstacles to progress, and unions/workers suspiciously interpret management proposals as job cut initiatives.

Notwithstanding this mistrustful history, we can escape this psychic prison as the National Partnership Council has done. It, however, requires developmental training of the parties to adjust their antagonistic mental models.

THE NEXT STAGE

This involves transmitting ‘social partnership waves’ down three levels: 1. national social partnership; 2. industry/sectoral partnerships; 3. enterprise partnerships.

This isn’t collective bargaining replacement! Wages, benefits and employment conditions must still be negotiated. It isn’t depriving management of its managerial responsibility, or unions of their representational work. Partnership involves the parties agreeing on, and implementing, a holistic work agenda.

Yes, capital and labour have differing interests. Investors want returns and sustainability, while workers want fair compensation, security of tenure, and a reasonable share of the value created. However, mutual interests exist, including, need for business growth and success, workplace safety, productivity, and efficiency.

INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS

Jamaica should establish or strengthen tripartite industrial relations councils in strategic industries to enable relevant ministry/ministries, employers and trade unions to develop each sector. Priority sectors could include tourism, aviation, transportation, energy, agriculture, manufacturing, and the public service. Our health sector’s issues do justify a council, which would support its recently signed Accountability Framework.

The councils’ focus could include: industry productivity; occupational standards and certification; workforce skills requirement; transformational projects; technology/AI; safety and employee well-being; investment and export opportunities; responsible restructuring, and worker redeployment.

These councils would facilitate dispute resolution. When a dispute reaches the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the parties are already ‘wedded/welded’ to their positions. An industry/sectoral council would air concerns before everybody begins ‘reaching for’ lawyers, press releases, and unnamed ‘reliable sources’.

Reviewing existing industry/sector councils has found the Ports’ Joint Industrial Council, where the Trades Union Congress’ Barrington Dawes was recognised for his contribution, and the Building and Construction Industry’ Joint Industrial Council. Councils for the security and tourism industries were proposed but information on these is lacking.

ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPS

Unionised organisations should establish management-union arrangements as enterprise partnership councils. They would comprise executive/senior management, HR leadership, union representatives, and operational employees. Responsibilities could involve: organisational performance and financial sustainability; business development initiatives; workforce costs; safety and service quality; culture and employee well-being.

The council doesn’t interfere with the grievance procedure or substitute for collective bargaining. It identifies problems before they become disputes, and ensures opportunities aren’t ‘missed’.

Here, management consults early with the union/s to have informed decisions. Early engagement allows unions to appropriately represent employees, providing management with cutting-edge operational information that the people closest to the work possess.

PRODUCTIVITY DIVIDEND

Productivity involves the relationship between the resources used and the value produced. It’s affected by many factors, including employee effort, workforce competence, organisational culture, leadership style, etc. But a worker, led by an adversarial/aggressive manager, who uses unreliable equipment, cannot indefinitely compensate for this travesty by ‘working harder’. Sometimes the worker is not the problem but is trapped within the problem!

Social partnership provides a productivity dividend, as unions/employees will cooperate in problem-solving and improve work output, while employers commit to training, fairness, and equitable gain sharing.

Conclusion

The business case for cooperative industrial relations is compelling! This contributes to greater returns, fewer work stoppages, less grievances, and improved safety/quality. Social partnerships allow Jamaica to strategically align its industrial relations with economic development.

Carvell N. McLeary, PhD, is a people leader and culture engineer based in Kingston. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and carvell.mcleary@protonmail.com.