Balford Henry, Senior Reporter
Nelson, Roberts and Brown TRADE UNION leaders stayed away from yesterday's inaugural meeting of the Tripartite Working Group looking at a flexible work week for Jamaican workers.
None of the four trade unionists in the working group -- Dwight Nelson, vice-president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Danny Roberts, vice-president of the National Workers Union (NWU), Lambert Brown, vice-president of the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU) or Helene Davis-Whyte, general secretary of the Jamaica Association of Local Government Offi-cers (JALGO) -- attended the meeting.
The trade unionists told The Gleaner later that they would not be participating, until the position stated by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson on legal entities negotiating with the Government on behalf of its employees was clarified.
However, while both Mr. Nelson and Mr. Brown described the action as a boycott, Mr. Roberts said that he did not consider the action a boycott. He suggested that the unions did not think that they should participate until Mr. Patterson's position had been clarified.
JALGO is one of several bodies representing public sector workers likely to be affected by Mr. Patterson's proposal. After a Cabinet meeting last week, the Prime Minister said the Government would not negotiate with any trade union entity which was not registered either under the Trade Union Act or the Companies Act in the future.
The Working Group was formed on July 27, after a meeting of the tripartite Labour Advisory Committee (LAC), attended by a number of Government Ministers, failed to achieve a consensus between trade unions and employers on legislating a flexible work week.
Chairman of the Working Group, Tony Irons, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, said that he was informed by the trade unionists that they would not be coming to the meeting. "They said that they were not pleased with the statement made by the Prime Minister and they were not coming to the meeting," he said.
Apart from the trade unionists, only Jamaica Chamber of Commerce president, Anthony Chang, was absent as he had to attend his mother's funeral, Mr. Irons said. He said, however, that the meeting went ahead any way and the next meeting was set for August 25.
Other members of the Working Group are: Keith Goodison, adviser to the Minister of Labour on labour market reform; Dr. Rosalea Hamilton of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Fae Sylvester, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tech-nology, Government representatives; Dr. Neville Ying, head of the Jamaica Employers Federation (JEF) and Clarence Clarke, head of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association, representing the employers.
The formation of the Working Group is the latest in a number of urgent moves being made by the Government in a search for consensus on the flexible work week issue, considered vital for Jamaica's competitiveness in exports.
The trade unions and the employers have remained inflexible in their positions. Although there is general agreement on the principle of a flexible work week, the unions want it to be left open to contractual agreements, while the employers and the Government are looking at possible amendments to a number of pieces of legislation, including the Minimum Wage Orders, to make it enforceable.
