Orville Taylor | Farmed work research

In 1990 an American videographer did a documentary, titled H-2 Worker, outlining horror stories of migrant farm workers in the United States and in particular Florida sugar plantations. I use the term plantation, with all of the imagery that it connotes and the legacy of slavery and such a system of organisation in this country. Florida is one of those areas in the United States with a deep history of agricultural slavery, where 98 per cent of enslaved Africans were used on these 500 acres or more properties, owned by around 20 wealthy owners.

At the time, I was working at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS); interestingly, it was a very first time that we were putting out a massive cohesive statistical bulletin coming from the Research Statistics and Pay Monitoring Unit. It was the unit that I had just taken responsibility for while I maintained my dual responsibilities as a director in the Industrial Relations Division.

The documentary was disturbing because, the MLSS was my home base, to which, even today, I have sentimental loyalties, and having worked with an incredible set of public servants, any stain on their performance was personal and still is.

In a labour surplus economy like Jamaica, with an unemployment rate of 13 per cent in 1989, the overseas employment programme was giving an income and a lifeline to thousands of Jamaicans each year. A farm work ticket was a prized possession and though not a ‘whole lot’, a small but significant number of workers used it to ‘run off’ or go absent without leave (AWOL), instead of returning to work or their home country. Last year, some 15,984 of our people found work in North America, via this channel.

The liaison service of the ministry itself, along with the manpower division on the whole, has a mandate to seek the best outcome for Jamaican workers as possible. Inasmuch as it facilitates the behest of the foreign employers; its responsibility is the Jamaican people who elected them.

SAFETY NET

To the credit of the ministry, it has in place a programme whereby a safety net is provided by forcing the workers into compulsory saving. It is a large fund, and up to last year it contained millions of Jamaican dollars. Without this compulsory programme, many farm workers, when they return home, would have little or nothing to show from their labour.

As the name suggests, the liaison service is mandated to link the owners of the plantations, a certain standard and quality of workers. At the same time, its primary responsibility is to protect its sick citizens, while upholding all of the international labour standards which are specifically binding on all nations which are part of the International Labour Organization. Indeed, Convention 97, Migration for Employment Convention (Revised) of 1949, gives the government no option but to put the Jamaican workers first.

Doubtless this programme is an extremely important one, and despite the misgivings and negative narratives, my personal feeling from my years of experience is that most of the farms on which the Jamaican migrant workers are deployed obey the general labour standards. Of course, most means anything more than 50 per cent.

Though anecdotal, I have personally had many complaints from farm workers who have called, had difficulty getting their money, usually because of administrative issues. However, there have been a number of tales from the crypt, some of which were shared with me in my office during the more than a decade that I spent as an employee of that great ministry.

Some of them are true, and no public relations campaign can embellish that. But that is not in dispute. What we need to determine is what is the extent of the negative experiences, which the workers have reported. Are these isolated cases or are they the norm?

DISMISS CLAIMS

Months ago, the ministry or rather minister, attempted to dismiss claims by a number of workers, that they were subject to inhumane conditions. Full of eggs on its face after the backlash, the ministry, justifiably and appropriately, commissioned a study with a team comprising a set of persons, most of whom I personally know well.

Headed by veteran trade unionist, Helene Davis Whyte, the group, by her own admission, had a very short period of two weeks in which took to accomplish a massive task. This disclaimer and thus limitation of the study admits that for all the efforts by this prestigious team, though remarkable in the time frame, was still peripheral. Given the importance, the ministry should have dedicated more time and not simply thought of expedience.

To its credit, it provided a lot of responses and important information which is very useful. Yet, there were not enough digging questions about the nature of the negative experiences which the workers reported. Given that this is the critical reason for the study itself, far more should have come from this area of questioning.

As stated on air, and interrogated by my colleague journalist, Dionne Jackson Miller on TVJ’s All Angles last Wednesday, there were two critical areas that simply required more attention.,

Methodologically, ‘face to face’ interviews are always risky, because apart from the interviewer effect, there is always the fear that there may be consequences connected to the responses. Even we experienced academic, who live by our research, understand how precarious self-administered surveys are.

True, Davis Whyte is a trade unionist and thus, not part of the ministry. However, deputy chairman of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal, Danny Roberts, is an employee of the ministry, whose appointment can be rescinded by the minister at any time. Prominent member, Wayne Chen, is one of the best minds and cleanest hearts I know in this country. Nonetheless, his perceived closeness to the government could easily make him appear less neutral.

A study of this magnitude and significance ought to have been conducted by a team headed by an academic who knows how to navigate the vagaries.

Nevertheless, as with all research, it now opens the door for more work by others.

- Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.