Hold strain a little longer, PM urges workers

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has admitted that over the last decade, workers have not got a fair share of the economic dividends the country has enjoyed, but called on them to hold strain for a little longer.

Addressing a civic ceremony at the Mandela Park in Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, which was the National Labour Day project, the prime minister admitted that much more needs to be done for workers.

“We are at a critical point in our development, where the Government acknowledges that over the last decade, with the structural adjustments that we have had to go through, labour did not get its fair share and its reward. We have put on the table that we are willing to improve labour’s share in the pie, particularly public-sector workers, but there is a parallel conversation which must be engaged, which is now the new frontier, as I call it, in our labour development, and that is of productivity.”

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY

Declaring that Jamaica has one of the lowest productivity rates in the region, the prime minister said that the only way to grow the country’s gross domestic product was to improve productivity.

“That is now the new frontier of our unions and the Government, to figure out how we’re going to increase productivity, because that [is the] conversation nobody wants to have it. You don’t hear about, nobody strikes over low productivity.”

The challenge facing the country is that a large number of Jamaicans are still poor, with the overall income level in the society still low, according to the prime minister; not enough, certainly, for young people to achieve all their dreams from the sacrifice of their labour.

“We understand that, but as our labour movement becomes more enlightened and as the Government works to give full compensation, we have to understand that the conversation about better pay, improved conditions and increasing the general income of the society is not only about the unidimensional conversation about increasing (wages). There is another dimension which labour must now contemplate – improving productivity.”

The prime minister also used the occasion to again warn workers against any industrial action at this time.

“Every government recognises the importance of the labour movement – the unions as stakeholders and partners – and I urge our workers to stay within that framework and that partnership. There is no gain for any set of workers by disrupting the economy – none whatsoever.

“So let us all work together to make the pie bigger, so that there is more over which to negotiate. That is a very important message to deliver, especially to the younger ones. We are here to celebrate and acknowledge and pay our respect to workers’ struggles.”