DaviesPRIVATE SECURITY firms will seek the intervention of Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies, into the issue of the rising costs expected from the implementation of recent Government decisions.
Representatives of the Jamaica Society for Industrial Security (JSIS) had met with the former Minister of Labour and Social Security, Donald Buchanan, last Thursday but said that they were dissatisfied with Mr. Buchanan's response to their queries.
JSIS president George Overton said that they left the meeting still uncertain as to whether the companies would be required to pay new costs, including statutory tax deductions and overtime based on a renewed 40-hour work week, or that the recent amendment to the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA) only meant that the workers could again become unionised.
The Ministry is sticking to its position, however, that since the amendment to the LRIDA requires security guards to be treated as permanent employees, that they should work a 40-hour work week and have statutory deductions paid on their behalf.
Private security boss Donald Williams said yesterday, that the JSIS members had met since and agreed that they would have to observe the law as interpreted by the Minister.
He said that in the circumstances, the companies were looking at reducing their current 60-work week to 40 hours, where it is possible.
"Where it is not possible, we will just have to give up those assignments, because our clients are not willing to pay overtime and we can't meet the increased costs alone," Mr. Williams, head of Allied Protection Company Limited, said.
"In the meantime, we are going to write Dr. Davies, outlining that we've been operating a system for the past 16 years and we find it difficult to change it overnight in the current economic situation. We are not resisting, because the law is already passed, but we will have to phase in these changes and see how they work," Mr. Williams said.
On Thursday, National Workers Union (NWU) vice-president, Vincent Morrison, said that the union has invited security guards to a meeting at its headquarters, East Street, Kingston, at 10 a.m. tomorrow to discuss the issues.
Both the NWU and the Bustamante Industrial Trades Union (BITU) have recommended the reintroduction of a Joint Industrial Council (JIC), comprised of government, employers and trade union representatives, to administer industrial relations within the sector. Some private sector companies have also welcomed the idea.
