UCASE President Vincent Morrison - file photo
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Vincent Morrison
By Clinton McGregor
President of the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), Vincent Morrison, has expressed disappointment with the decision of the Jamaica Association of Private Security (JAPS) to wait until next year for the island's security guards to begin receiving benefits in line with the change in their employment status.
But speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Wednesday, Mr. Morrison warned that the group is making a major blunder by agreeing to a delay in the payments.
He said JAPS should instead be insisting that the security companies implement the Supreme Court's ruling handed down in September, which stated that security guards are not contract workers but employees.
In fact, Mr. Morrison argued that the guards should have been considered as employees more than 10 years ago, when the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act was amended to define a 'worker'.
"I'm almost sure that when comes the 1st of April, the company is going to say, ‘Boy, the time is not right. We have to put it off until August.’ This is not in favour of the workers," Mr. Morrison complained.
"It is wrong, and my organisation, UCASE, could never, will never support this makeover arrangement," he said, adding that the security companies are "disrespecting the ruling of the court".
The UCASE president has again slammed the Ministry of Labour for failing to intervene in the matter and force the security companies to respect the court's ruling.
Mr. Morrison said he has "virtually given up on the government" who, despite having the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act for years, did not make an effort to tell security companies that the guards are not independent contractors, but employees, "fully under the law".
He accused the government of not having any concern for the "suffering" of the security guards.
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