“The last time
the IMF was here they wanted to know when we are going to introduce Flexible Work
arrangements. Jamaica has to make up its mind when we are going to join the
real world,” Goodleigh said, confirming that the trade unions fully support the
concept.”
President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade
Unions, Lloyd Goodleigh commenting on the changes to aspects of the Labour Laws
as it relates to FWA (Flexi-Work Arrangements)
Finally Jamaica
is going forward into the 21st Century with a Modern Labour Law that
reflects the Global Reality of Flexi-Work Week!
Looks like Minister
of Labour and Social Security Derrick Kellier
has seen it as economically beneficial to finally implement Flexi-Work
Week, flying directly in the face of the Great elephant, the Church as
predicted in my blog
article entitled “How
to find Work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Church opposed to Modernizing Jamaica
via Flexi-Work and 4G LTE to introduce Tele-commuting is really Much Ado About
Nothing”.
The Jamaica Umbrella
Groups of Church is apparently being left out in the cold as well as out of the
crafting of the FWA (Flexi-Work Arrangement) that appears to be on the cusp of
finally coming to light. All based on a statements that they issued as reported
in “Churches
angry; Slam Gov't over Flexi Week snub”, published Friday, March 21, 2014
BY BALFORD HENRY Senior staff
reporter, The Jamaica Observer.
In a few Weeks
time at Budget Debates, Minister of Labour and Social Security Derrick Kellier
may be set to make some major announcements about the status of Jamaica’s
Labour Laws and changes to accommodate and Facilitate FWA, changes about which
the Jamaica Umbrella Groups of Church was not consulted but which the Unions of
Jamaica clearly support!
The Jamaica
Umbrella Groups of Church is a who's who of Churches that’ve united for a
common cause: to prevent the Government from Stealing their tithes:
1.
Jamaica Council of Churches
2.
Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists
3.
Jamaica Pentecostal Union (Apostolic)
4.
Jamaica Association of Full Gospel Churches
5.
Jamaica Association of Evangelicals
6.
Church of God in Jamaica
7.
Independent Churches of Jamaica
This pretty much
covers every denomination that claims Christianity as its guiding principles,
yet their blocking of Flexi-Work Week arrangements and thus TeleWorking in
Jamaica for the past nineteen (19) is anything but Christian in character as
explained in my Geezam blog article
entitled “Jamaica’s
100MBps Internet Silver Lining – Tele-commuting Workplace is coming”.
The SDA (Seventh
Day Adventists), for their part, are concerned about the Bill taking away their
right to have a guaranteed 24 hour Sabbath, which technically begins on Friday
sunset and Ends on Saturday sunset as noted in “No
Sabbath, no Flexi-Week!”, published Friday, February 21, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.
According to a
part of their statement, they've been left out of the process, quote: “While
the Ministry Paper expressed a desire to protect and respect the Worker's rest
day and/or day of worship in an environment where there is unequal bargaining
power of employee to employer, largely due to the scarcity of employment, the Church
is of the considered view that such right to rest and worship cannot be left to
negotiation between employer and employee, but must be protected under law,”.
The Influence of the Church – Religious Dogma from our
Colonial Past from a non-Tax Paying Landowner
The influence of
the Church and their false concern is strange. They don’t pay Taxes on their
Tithes, a huge source of Revenue or any other money collected from their
Fund-Raising Activities and many of them, due to the Churches’ stance on
Corruption, possibly don’t vote.
They already
enjoy waivers for items related to their Furnishings and Work being done by the
Church. Aside from Politicians and the Wealthy elite such as the Azans, the
Issas and the Matalons et al, they
are collectively the other single largest Landowners in Jamaica, as according
to the Guinness Book of World Records, Jamaica has virtually one Church per
square mile.
Most of the
Schools, Cemeteries, Colleges, Hospitals and even some Private Sector Companies
are owned and operated by these Churches, making them a body that wields
considerable financial clout akin to the above mentioned Wealthy Elite. Due to
their claim of representing Christianity and the Religious beliefs founded on
the Birth, Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, they claim also the
right to the Divine and thus Command reverence from even Politicians and the
Wealthy Elite.
To this end they
claim to also represent the Spiritual Needs of the People of Jamaica and in
matters of Spirituality, they act as their Voice, claiming that they are Vox populi, Vox Dei (The Voice of the
People is the Voice of God). But they’re withheld their voice in commenting on
the many Social Ills, choosing merely to have long Sermons and Homilies and
counteract the scourge of Crime with Prayer instead of Action.
Hence their claims
to protecting the following by demanding the following changes to the FWA
recommendations tabled back in June 2013:
1.
Right of the Worker to choose a day of rest
2.
Right of the Worker to choose and designate the 24-hour
period constituting his/her day of worship
3.
Right to void contracts that deny a Worker this right
4.
Protection against discrimination in employment for
exercising this right
5.
A six-month public-education programme by the Government
before the Bill is tabled in Parliament
I suspect it
could be just that, as albeit many Jamaicans grew up in the Church and claim to
be Christians or believers in God at the very least, few really support the Church,
as really and truly only the Pastors and his Children Benefit. So, knowing this
and other personal tidbits about most of these older generation Politicians, it
may be a case of the Church using its considerable heft to glibly badger the
Ministers of Government, many of whom may be Church goers themselves.
By having the
Politicians in their midst, this gives the Leaders of these Various Churches
under their Jamaica Umbrella Groups of Church considerable psychological
leverage over the Politicians. Knowing this, the Politicians, who are very much
aware of the Spiritual and argumentative, almost bullying nature of the Church
and its stance on certain contentious issues such a Gambling on Sundays, apparently
have no choice but to exclude them from discussions on FWA.
The Church’s
position on Flexi-Work Week is untenable and unchanged over the past 19 years;
it cannot be the case that an entire country’s future is being held back by a
Religious few hell-bent on holding on to their Tax Free Revenue from Tithes as
well as not having to pay taxes on their Property, Land as well as Importation
Taxes, many of which they’ve been granted rather handsome waivers.
This is the
“spanner in the Works” referred to in the article; clever suasion by the Church
over the years has allowed them to use the guilty consciences of the
Politicians to psychologically bully them so as to get their way as it relates
to having Jamaican Law Bend in the Churches’ Interest.
The Church,
therefore, is an elephant akin to the Media, who are often referred to as the
Fourth Estate. But as they claim the Divine as their guide and not the All
Seeing Eye of the Journalist, their spiritual Influence is stronger.
This is oweing
to the fact that the lives of many Jamaicans, including the very same
Politicians, have been touched by the Church, whether they went to Church-funded
School, Church-sponsored Event, Worked with a Church funded Business or even
Received a Scholarship or Recommendations for Work from a Minister of Religion.
Derrick Kellier’s Dilemma – If FWA becomes enshrined
in Labour Laws, He’ll have to stop going to Church
While the Church
uses their considerable financial and sway over the Spirituality of the Nation
to Psychologically bully the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) to do as they bid, the
Government has to answer to yet another set of Freemasons, this time in the
form of the Enlightened IMF (International Monetary Fund).
Having just
recently passed their Third IMF Test and are thus eligible for more IMF
Multi-Lateral Support, they are also being pressured by the IMF to implement Flexi-Work
Week, as it’ll make it easier to attract FDI (Foreign Direct Investors) to the
island knowing that the Workforce are not only skilled an capable, but are
willing to forego tradition and Work on traditionally Religious Sabbaths and
Sundays and take their Days-Off at any time convenient to the company, which
may be in the Week.
As I’d pointed
out in my blog
article entitled “How
to find Work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Church opposed to Modernizing Jamaica
via Flexi-Work and 4G LTE to introduce Tele-commuting is really Much Ado About
Nothing”, the advantages of Flex-Work Week vastly outweigh its
disadvantages:
1.
Work from Home i.e. Tele-Working, thus more time for your
family
2.
Tele-Working would be possible, with companies having Virtual
Offices of Staff located all over Jamaica
3.
Reducing the need to have a permanent Office and thus renting
Office spaces when needed
4.
Reduces transportation costs associated with travelling to Work
5.
Reduce Travelling allowance for Employer paying for you to
travel to Work
Telecommuting
would create Virtual Offices of Workers who could do Work from Home with their
Computer that doesn’t require travelling to Works, benefitting Pregnant women
who want to have a family and hold down a job. To the Government of Jamaica,
this is a political Gold mine, as this would be the “jobs, jobs, jobs” they
been trumpeting all along. Suddenly, overnight, the Church became easy to ignore
and dispose of.
With Flexi-Work Week,
there lies the potential to not only get more hours out of the day and create
more gainful employment for out-of-work Jamaicans, but potentially it could see
the ruling party back into the Seat of Power if it works!
Telecommuting
Job have the same advantages that would be empowered by our Labour Laws
including Flexi-Work Week arrangements, thereby modernizing our archaic Labour
laws that don’t even permit Women to Work overtime. These are the same
advantages echoed in more detail in my blog article
entitled “Crowdsourced,
TeleWorking Flex-Work Publishers needed for UWI and High School Students with
Tablets in 2014 - How Jamaican Writers can make money via ePub Publishing Book”.
But most
importantly, Flexi-Work Week will be needed if Jamaica is to have a
Manufacturing based Economy. This as Jamaican Labour needs to be Flexible in
terms of our Working hours so as engage in the mega projects that will empower
our Manufacturing Ambitions.
Example of such
projects include the construction of the two (2) LNG Power Plants, one in
Bogue, St. James and Bull Bay, St. Thomas by EWI (Energy World International)
to provide Cheaper Electricity as noted in my blog article
entitled “EWI
Plant to have 2 LNG Plants - LNG Plant Banana Split between St. James and St.
Thomas may mean LNG Fuel coming for Large companies and Auto LPG for JUTC to
reduce fuel costs”.
Another is the
building of the Logistics Hub, a topic about which I’ve yet to write on as I’ve
seen a lot of heated arguments but little light or substance about which I
could create even the skeleton of a Proper Argument. I’m not even sure if this
Logistics Hub is just a Port Expansion or an islandwide push to have
Multi-Modal Port Facilities that would enable Jamaica to handle more Cargo from
the Panama Canal coming from China.
What I do know
is that we’re way behind the 2017 Targeted opening of the widened Panama Canal.
To catch in the construction of whatever we’re going to commit to building
wherever, be it Goat Islands or elsewhere, will require Labour Laws to would
make it easier to have a Workforce that can Work around the clock.
This, combined
with a revitalization of our Transportation Facilities in Jamaica would not
only breathe life into the Logistics Hub but maintain it after the Expatriates
are gone on the same 24 hour/7 week/365 day basis as is required by
International Standards that other Logistics Hubs operate worldwide.
For that and
other ambitions to lift Jamaica out of our post-Recession Economic Doldrums, a
new kind of Labour Law is needed, one that has aspects of Flex-Work Week
infused, enabling Work to continue legally even when the Religious few take a
break to observer their Religious obligations.
Flex-Work Week
isn’t the death of Religious observation. Rather, it’s merely the empowering of
a nation to do more with its time, whether it is in the Day, Night or on the Weekends!
And while he’s at it, I hope he can also get the Churches to pay Taxes as well,
specifically from their Tithes, Property, Land as well as Importation Taxes!
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