Jamaica - 2012

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Population: 2,741,000
Capital: Kingston
Jamaica continued to be plagued by the grave problem of trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation. Domestic workers remain deprived of labour and trade union rights. Precarious employment is used as a means of hampering the exercise of the right to organise, in addition to the direct action taken by private employers to crush existing trade union organisations.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)

reported violations - 2012

Murders: none reported
Attempted Murders: none reported
Threats: none reported
Injuries: none reported
Arrests: none reported
Imprisonments: none reported
Dismissals: none reported
Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Background

In December 2011, Portia Simpson-Miller of the People’s National Party (PNP) was elected as prime minister. She is the only woman to have held this post, which she previously occupied in 2006. Unemployment rose to 12.9% in 2011. Poverty has fallen in recent years but still affects 19% of the population. Jamaica’s main source of income is tourism, which has been hit over recent years by the global crisis and the high rate of violent crime in the country.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 2,741,000
Capital: Kingston

reported violations- 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Trade union rights in law

While basic trade union rights are recognised, some areas of concern exist in the law. Under the 2006 Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act, workers have the right to create and join trade unions. The law prohibits anti-union discrimination anti-union discrimination Any practice that disadvantages a worker or a group of workers on grounds of their past, current or prospective trade union membership, their legitimate trade union activities, or their use of trade union services. Can constitute dismissal, transfer, demotion, harassment and the like.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework

 , and employees may not be dismissed solely for belonging to a trade union. However, while the right to collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
is guaranteed, bargaining is denied if no single union represents at least 40% of the workers, or if the union seeking recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. for collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
does not obtain 50% of the votes of the total number of workers. The right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike is not specifically protected in law, but neither is it explicitly prohibited except for workers in essential services essential services Services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. Can include the hospital sector, electricity and water supply services, and air traffic control. Strikes can be restricted or even prohibited in essential services.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
 . However, the Ministry of Labour has the power to refer an industrial dispute industrial dispute A conflict between workers and employers concerning conditions of work or terms of employment. May result in industrial action. to compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation and to terminate any strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike if it is “likely to be gravely injurious to the national interest”.
Additional information regarding the legislation
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 2,741,000
Capital: Kingston

reported violations - 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

In practice

Trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation and forced labour: Human trafficking is a consequence of several factors affecting the country; Jamaica is a source, transit, and destination country for victims of human trafficking. Although the Jamaican government has taken some steps to prosecute those responsible for human trafficking, it does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination this scourge.
Union busting and derecognition : It is estimated that 20% of workers belong to a union. Where unions already exist, managers in some companies try to have their recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. withdrawn. In the private sector, employers tend to dismiss unionised workers and then re-hire them on short-term contracts with lower benefits.
Anti-union practices preventing formation of unions in EPZs : It is common practice among EPZ export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. companies to threaten workers and create pro-employer “workers’ councils”, which interfere in the processing of complaints but are not allowed to engage in collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
on working conditions or minimum wages. As a result, no unions have so far been formed in the EPZ export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. s.
Precarious work hinders unionisation of domestic employees: Domestic work in Jamaica is precarious, with very poor wages that fall below the minimum wage, very limited if any access to social security, and little respect for labour rights and conditions. This situation hinders the exercise of the right to organise and collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 2,741,000
Capital: Kingston

reported violations - 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
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