Top trade unions clash over politics

Top trade unions clash over politics
Trade unions leaders in war of wordsBALFORD HENRY, Observer writer
Thursday, August 16, 2007

UCASE President, Danny Roberts (centre), speaking at yesterday's NWU/UCASE press conference at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston. He is flanked by Vincent Morrison (left), NWU president, and Owen Sanderson, NWU deputy island supervisor. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

STATEMENTS from leaders of two People's National Party (PNP)-affiliated trade unions yesterday, linking the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to economic policies hostile to workers, have threatened to split the trade union movement on the eve of the general elections.

Leader of the PNP- affiliated Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), Danny Roberts, yesterday accused the Opposition JLP of adopting "neo-liberal" US-supported economic policies hostile to democracy, human rights and the rights of workers.

He was supported by National Workers Union (NWU) president, Vincent Morrison, who said that his union shared the concern that the JLP would pursue policies which would "adversely and uncompromisingly" affect workers and their families.

They both referred to statements made by Opposition spokesman on finance, Audley Shaw, about a JLP government's relationship with multilateral institutions, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank, and suggested that workers vote against that notion.

However, senior vice-president of the JLP-affiliated Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Dwight Nelson, hit back last night, accusing both men of continuing to prostitute themselves and their unions on the altar of political expediency.

"The umbrella organisation, to which both the NWU and the BITU belong, has written to the party leaders requesting audience to discuss their policies and to reinforce the trade unions' viewpoint. So I am a little disgusted that these gentlemen have chosen to come out, individually, and make the abusive statements they have made," Nelson said.

Nelson and Roberts are president and vice-president, respectively, of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), the unions' umbrella body.

Nelson said that the BITU will issue a full statement today in response to the specific accusations made by the NWU and UCASE.

The episode began with a press conference called by the NWU/UCASE at the Courtleigh Hotel, New Kingston, yesterday to discuss "The upcoming General Elections and the implications for the Jamaican workers".

However, both Roberts, Morrison and Navel Clarke, a former PNP senator, used the opportunity to warn the workers of the implications of a JLP government imposing a "neo-liberal, IMF-Washington consensus" economic model on the country.

"The choice is clear," Roberts told the press conference. "The neo-liberal, IMF-Washington consensus economic policy, which the JLP favours for this country, has been criticised globally for its failure to put people first."
He also criticised Opposition Leader Bruce Golding's statement on Saturday night's televised leadership debate that he felt "ashamed" that countries like Vietnam and Cambodia were growing three times as fast as Jamaica, although they have been through trauma that Jamaica has not experienced.

"In Cambodia and Vietnam, the workers are worse off economically and socially than in Jamaica, even although in those countries there have been a higher economic growth," Roberts said in a power presentation to the media.

But, Nelson said last night that he was not surprised by Roberts' and Morrison's statements. He pointed out that the NWU was formed by PNP founder, Norman Manley, purely for political purposes which that union has continued to serve since.

RBSC

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