What did the trade union movement really expect? The leadership at the 11th hour when the lay-offs are actually happening is now waiting to get a “grief lump”? This is only the first wave of lay-offs, what will the union say when the thousands others join the dismissed workers from the drainage unit?
The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) has got to change gears and fast or it will find itself, not up against the wall, but flattened to the ground if they do not act quickly to secure workers’ rights. The backs of the workers were against the wall ever since but the union chose to cadoodle and compromise with a Government which had treated them with a certain amount of disdain from the get-go.
For all its secret meetings and proposals what has it got to show? First there is silence (which is typical); there has been no official public response to the union’s proposals. Secondly, they are clearly being ignored, the lay-offs are underway and occurring in a manner which suggests that there is little adherence to due process and thirdly there is utter disdain for the union’s proposals coming from some officials.
I can only pray that the union leadership which is made up of some experienced stalwarts will wake up from their self-imposed identity crisis and start acting like a trade union movement again. Crisis or not, workers have to be represented and treated fairly throughout this process.
There is no sympathy to be had from within the Social Partnership as the private sector is encouraging Government to get on with it and most workers themselves are immobilized by the threat of losing their jobs. Someone has to be the champion for the thousands of soon-to-be-displaced workers to ensure that due process and fair treatment is given. Workers will look to the movement for leadership and guidance and unions should be careful not to further disappoint.
Added to this sense of impending gloom which has quickly dampened the merriment of the Christmas season are the many rumours about wider lay-offs including teachers and cuts in social programmes. As usual there seems to be some satisfaction within certain quarters for having the country on tenterhooks awaiting decisions and pronouncements. I believe there is a saying about taking bad tasting medicine all at one time as opposed to sipping it. The bad tasting medicine has already started so why not finish it as opposed to doling it out overtime.
At this stage it will take a herculean effort from all concerned to ensure some measure of stability throughout this period. From the household to the boardroom there will need to be adjustments. However, people can only make wise decisions about possible options and alternatives if they have all the information in sufficient time to allow them to act. The public needs to know all the facts the good, bad and the ugly. A prepared and mobilized public is just as important as money in the bank; a public caught unawares and lacking in confidence is a huge liability. One can only hope that sooner than later we will have a coherent idea of the totality of the measures and the period of the austerity.
Additionally, I would like to believe that the government bureaucracy has carefully thought this process and its implications through; it has ensured that the NIS is mobilized to quickly process unemployment cheques; it has alerted the relevant social welfare ministries to be more vigilant for families and children that might be more vulnerable to the effects, that in its haste to get the quota for dismissals met that some thought has been given to ensuring that the civil service does not lose its hardest workers; as it sends home people that there is a plan in place to ensure that ministries, departments and projects can still function effectively and efficiently without creating further bottlenecks and delays at a time when greater productivity is needed more than ever.
We should hope that the police have been mobilized for the inevitable upsurge in crime if there is to be a prolonged period of unemployment and dampened economic activity. Somebody, somewhere I hope is thinking about these things. We ought not to forget that short-term fixes can have long-term implications and in this instance every possible effort should be made to minimize the negative consequences particularly for the most vulnerable.
It is often during these times that the value of the non-profit sector comes to the fore as community organizations, national civil society organizations, churches and others respond to the social fallout. We need to pray that they will have the wherewithal to maintain the level of assistance needed.
• Shantal Munro-Knight is a development specialist and executive coordinator at the Caribbean Policy Development Centre.