THERE ARE thousands of Jamaicans who will lose their jobs before this recession is over, but why they lose those jobs deserves scrutiny.

I worked for more than five years at a company doing a project for the Government. Last year, the company made most of the line staff positions redundant (more than 100) and told them to apply to a new firm that had been given the job of managing them. About a third of them were unionised. Of this group, only a handful were re-employed. The new firm then hired others to fill the vacancies.

In July this year, the company made the supervisors' positions redundant and outsourced their jobs. Half of the supervisors were unionised. This half was based at one location and none of them were re-employed. Their jobs have since been given to others. All the non-union supervisors from the other location were re-employed.

It seems strange that the union reported these and other dubious actions to the Ministry of Labour, but there has been no action. Are employers now above the law? Is the Ministry of Labour now impotent?

I am, etc.,

Redundant

Spanish Town