Lambert Brown, Guest Columnist
NOTHING KILLS a bad product faster than good advertising. On Monday last, The Gleaner carried a front-page photo of Labour Minister Horace Dalley and his team meeting with the employers of Alpart, hours before the bauxite workers went on strike. The minister and his team failed miserably to resolve the dispute, which led to significant loss of earnings by workers and the country. However, there can be no doubting the public relations victory of Minister Dalley's front-page appearance. The minister, like so many of his colleagues, in my opinion, seems to be more concerned with a projection of image rather than the production of tangible results. Pictures should be taken at the successful completion of the negotiations, at the signing of the agreement, not as a means of promoting how wonderful a minister anyone is. Minister Dalley just does not have a clue.
If we are to grow our economy out of the solid mess in which it has lingered over the last decade and a half, we need to promote real performers not profilers. Bauxite and alumina workers like those at Alpart have been in the forefront of real production and productivity gains in Jamaica over the last eight years. Yet unlike non-performing politicians, they are not in the business of seeking photo opportunities.
The record shows that last year over 14 million metric tonnes of bauxite was produced in Jamaica. It was the highest level of bauxite production in Jamaica in over 30 years. Last year also saw the industry, thanks to the efforts of workers and management, earning this country over $64 billion in income. This is also an all-time record. I am yet to hear any government minister applaud such achievements and give credit to the ordinary men and women in the industry. These workers are often working with old and obsolete equipment, such as 18-year-old trucks, that have already exhausted three economic lives of such vehicles.
UNIONISED
Naturally, I must make the point that the overwhelming majority of these workers are unionised. Those who are quick to condemn strikes and trade unions need to contemplate the unions' positive contribution to the record-breaking production, earning and stability that the industry has enjoyed over recent past.
The recent instability in the industry, (strikes at Jamalco and Alpart and threats of strikes at Windalco and St. Ann's Bauxite Limited) does not augur well for the immediate future of the industry. The Manley Accord (MoU) signed with much fanfare at Jamaica House in July 1998, has broken down. The simple truth is that the unions and their members in the bauxite alumina industry do not trust the government officials. The view is that these officials are anti-worker and outdated in their views of the role of the worker at the work place. In this respect, workers believe that these officials' minds are buried in the past while mouthing slogans about the future. The truth is that bauxite workers and their unions have a better relationship with their foreign management, than they have with their national government.
VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED
While the foreign owners and management were and are prepared to share the benefits of devaluation with the Jamaican workers, some government officials have vehemently opposed this. This is what led to the 'wild-cat strike' at Jamalco in 2001, and the disruption of otherwise good industrial relations at the Clarendon refinery. Similarly, while the unions and companies were pushing for tax-free productivity schemes some of the government officials were opposing the implementation of these schemes. Even up to today, these officials are trying to deny workers at St. Ann's Bauxite the $48 million secretly deducted from the workers' earnings.
Instead of defending jobs for Jamaican and CARICOM nationals, Government is quick to approve work permits for jobs that can be efficiently and effectively performed by locals. How can it be that in a country with an abundance of skilled and creative public relations practitioners, our government grants a work permit for an Australian to be the public relations person at a company that is part-owned by said Government? Isn't this a slap in the face of all patriotic Jamaicans? What is worse is that an American was brought in at the company to orientate the Australian in Jamaican culture. The Prime Minister must explain this to the nation or ask for the resignation of his minister. Then again I am not sure that any shame is left in this government.
It should go without saying that every effort should be made to revive the Manley Accord in the bauxite and alumina industry. Unfortunately, the two ministers responsible for this, Horace Dalley and Paul Robertson, do not appear up to the task. Robertson is noted for writing annual letters to the unions just before his speeches in the Budget Debates. He then goes to Parliament and reports: "Mr. Speaker, we have written to the unions." That is not how consensus is built. It takes hard work day and night, to achieve success. Portia Simpson Miller and Omar Davies have shown how it is done. It is, therefore, no surprise that many bauxite and other workers are hoping that Portia Simpson Miller and her team will triumph in the upcoming leadership race in the PNP. They know that when it comes to successfully solving an industrial dispute, she more than has the 'capacity'.
NOT ALONE
The workers are not alone in this. It is interesting that in 1997, opening the State of the Nation debate in the Senate, Queen's Counsel and former PNP Senator Fred Hamaty, spoke glowingly about this attribute of Simpson Miller. He said then: "Let me say, Madam President, on any discussion in the industrial arena, it is praiseworthy to highlight the presence of Hon. Portia Simpson as Minister of Labour, Welfare and Sports. We cannot deny her indispensable role in resolving the numerous industrial crises which could have created havoc within our society. Her hard work, dedication, honesty and probity must be commended."
I am sure the Alpart workers last week would have loved to have had her guiding hands in their just struggle for a reasonable wage adjustment.
They know that as Prime Minister, in her they will find someone who will tell them when they are wrong, that they are, but more so one who will defend them when they are right and justice demands her support. She is not a picture taker, a creature of public relations, or a sender of workers to jail to mask the failing of conciliation. Her colleagues could do well to follow her example.
Lambert Brown is President of the University and Allied Workers Union, and may be contacted at labpoyh@yahoo.com.
