Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
From left: Edmund Bartlett, Opposition Spokesman on Tourism and Member of Parliament for East Central St. James; Derrick Kellier, State Minister in the Ministry of National Security; Councillor Cecil Davis, Deputy Mayor of Montego Bay; Honourable Clarence Nelson, Custos of St. James and Nardia Malcolm, Miss St. James Festival Queen enjoy cultural tributes during the Heroes Day Civic and Awards Ceremony in Sam Sharpe Square on Monday October 17, 2005. - PHOTO BY HERBERT MCKENIS
THERE ARE mixed reactions from the trade unions to the appointment of Derrick Kellier as the new Minister of Labour and Social Security in Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's 14-member Cabinet.
Mr. Kellier was on Friday sworn in along with other Cabinet ministers at King's House.
Norman DaCosta, vice-president of the National Workers Union (NWU) has welcomed Mr. Kellier's appointment, and is glad to see the back of former Labour Minister, Horace Dalley.
"Most welcomed. The entire Bauxite and Alumina Council of Jamaica applaud this appointment. I am sure he will bring to that position a new approach that is long overdue," DaCosta said.
EXPRESSED DELIGHT
He also expressed delight in the transfer of Mr. Dalley to the Health Ministry.
"Mr. Dalley did not exactly distinguished himself. The fact is that he was a dismal failure, and this is borne out of the experience we had with him," he said.
Senior vice-president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Senator Dwight Nelson is, however, disappointed with the appointment of Derrick Kellier and the removal of Mr. Dalley.
"If Dalley had to be moved, which I don't agree with, then someone with experience and exposure in industrial disputes, like Danny Buchanan, should have been placed there," he said.
CRITICAL
Senator Nelson was also critical of the treatment of Mr. Dalley by Mrs. Simpson Miller.
He noted that she ... "opted to emasculate him in the dispute with the bauxite companies (the Windalco wage negotiations). P.J. Patterson had similar disputes, and he has managed to solve them quietly without doing much to the effectiveness of his ministers," he pointed out.
President of the University Allied Workers Union (UAWU), Lambert Brown, is optimistic that Kellier will bring a fresh outlook to the post.
As to Mr. Dalley's removal, he said, "He has fallen out of grace with the trade unions in many ways. I don't think he will be missed. Many of us were looking for his removal."
