Government Senator Kavan Gayle
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By Warren Bertram
Government Senator Kavan Gayle is calling for amendments to labour laws to improve conditions for fixed-term contract workers.
In his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate on Friday, he highlighted changes to legislation in Antigua and Barbuda, where a fixed-term contract shall not be issued to an employee for a position which is permanent in nature.
Senator Gayle has suggested that Jamaica adopt a similar approach.
The change would see contract workers be deemed full-time employees if their fixed-term contract has been renewed by the employer on two or more occasions after the initial issuance or if the total contractual period of which the worker has been employed amounts in aggregate to one year or more.
Senator Gayle argued that this would provide a "level of security" for the workers.
The government senator asserted that the continued use of contractual arrangements restricts the earning power of employees.
Furthermore, he said studies have shown that these workers lack educational opportunity and are usually in poverty, making them at greater risk of injury, illness and stress.
They are faced with barriers to accessing health care, as well as greater difficulty with family relationships and connections to the community due to them having to work more than one job.
Senator Gayle pointed to several industries that continue to enforce these contractual arrangements, including private security firms, the Business Processing Outsourcing sector and the hotel industry.
He contended that companies use these arrangements to avoid meeting their obligations to workers.
But Senator Gayle warned that this social exclusion and the "absence of adequate pension arrangements will come home to haunt us if we do not take appropriate steps to treat with the epidemic which is the abuse of contract labour arrangements".
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