Hanover councillor wants end to contract work system
Published:Friday | October 13, 2023 | 12:06 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
COUNCILLOR FOR the Green Island division in the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), Marvel Sewell, has described the contract work system being used by several business establishments across the island as modern-day slavery, while making an appeal for the Government to legislate against its continuation.
Making special reference to the system as it is applied in the hotel industry, Sewell said that it is unfair to the workers and is keeping many of them in poverty.
During an interview with The Gleaner at a World Homeless Day event held in Lucea, Hanover, Sewell expressed the view that if Jamaica wants to address the level of homelessness in the country going forward, then it ought to address what applies in the labour force of today.
“One of my main concerns which needs addressing is the way we treat the hotel workers with this business of contract work,” he stated.
“If we want to minimise the homelessness going forward, the persons that are working today, a foundation must be set for them for tomorrow, and that is why I think that this contract work thing for the people of Jamaica is really a no-no,” he stated.
Being the chairman for the Poor Relief Committee in the HMC, Sewell told The Gleaner that he has spoken to some of the registered homeless with the Hanover Poor Relief Department, and to his surprise, to date he has met two of them who used to work in hotels in the parish for years, but under the contract work system which has left them wanting at the end of their working period.
He highlighted the uncertainty surrounding one’s tenure under the contract work system, adding that there is nothing to be gained by an employee, no matter how many years of service they give to the employer.
Sewell’s call comes against the background of that made by assistant general secretary of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Collin Virgo, while he was addressing the 139th birthday celebration anniversary of Jamaica’s first Prime Minister and National Hero, Sir Alexander Bustamante, in Blenheim, Hanover, the birthplace of Sir Alexander, in February of this year.
Virgo described the contract work system then as “an injustice to the Jamaican worker”, adding that that type of work arrangement ought to be abolished.
“Contract work is one of the greatest injustice ever done to the Jamaican worker, and it is setting back what people like Sir Alexander Bustamante fought for so hard for the Jamaican people,” Virgo stated.
He noted that the contract work system robs workers of several benefits such as union representation, health benefits, retroactive payments and leave benefits, among others.
“The contract work system is like breeding people for them to fall under Jamaica’s poor relief system,” Sewell continued to tell The Gleaner, adding that he is appealing to the government to do something about it.
“The workers might be young today, strong today, working at a hotel, but 15 or 20 years from now if the system is not changed, they are the same persons who are going to end up here at a Poor Relief Department’s homeless function, and I am really concerned about that,” Sewell stated.