THE ISSUE of flexible work arrangements is back on the agenda. It had quietly disappeared from parliamentary and public debate just ahead of the 2002 general election and has not found its way back until very recently. The issue has been around, on and off, for much of the past decade. Minister of Labour and Social Security Horace Dalley now seems determined to bring closure to it on his watch.
Flexibility in working time is not something awaiting introduction; it is a reality in the labour market. What now needs to be done, as public policy struggles to catch up with changes on the ground, is to formally anchor arrangements in a legislative framework with adequate protection of the rights and freedoms of stakeholders.
In the last round of discussions a Green Paper on "Proposals for the Introduction of Flexible Work Arrangements" identified a number of laws to be amended to facilitate flexible work arrangements. Two of the outstanding issues to be resolved from the consultation among Government, Employers, Trade Unions, and the Church was the matter of the maximum hours of work per day permissible in making up a 40-hour work week, and the more thorny matter of instituting a seven-day work week without the "week-end" status of Saturday and Sunday. The latter has raised serious concerns about days of worship from the churches.
A new round of consultations has been recently launched with the support of the ILO as facilitator. Minister Dalley has been at pains to assure stakeholders that constitutional rights will be fully protected as changes are made to accommodate the imperative of flexible work time in the global market. Both workers and employers, as well as the general economy, can benefit from greater flexibility in working time as long as the process is carefully managed within a coherent legal framework.
One of the major problems in moving towards flexible work arrangements is the lack of public education on so important an issue and therefore the high level of ignorance among those most affected. As Minister Dalley moves with new urgency, we urge him to spend the necessary time and money on public education. He surely must be aware of the deep distrust between workers and employers which has been identified in several studies of the industrial relations situation in the country. His utterances indicate a respectful understanding of the concerns of the churches.
The touted benefits of flexible working time arrangements should not be hard to sell while the concerns of stakeholders are taken aboard in continued dialogue. No signing off should be permitted to take place without the broadest possible public understanding and support through consultation and education.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
