Jamaica 'mostly free' for workers

Jamaica has been ranked as "mostly free" by watchdog organisation Freedom House in its report on the state of workers rights in 165 countries, comprising those considered to have modern economies.

A statement on the organisation's website www.freedomhouse.org said the report, titled The Global State of Workers' Rights: Free Labor in a Hostile World, was an assessment of trade union and worker freedoms in 165 countries.

Each country was ranked according to a five-category scale, from "free" to "very repressive".

The report designated 40 countries as having "repressive" or "very repressive" labour environments.

"Mostly free" refers to countries whose labour laws are in basic conformity with International Labour Organisation standards and are reluctantly enforced amid outside scrutiny and international pressure. Bargaining is discouraged in subtle ways, for instance, through legal delays and firings. Independent unions exist, as do authentic collective-bargaining contracts, but the number of such contracts is small.

Unions are permitted to participate in civic affairs, including electoral politics, and to advocate for laws and policies.

According to the findings of this first-of-its-kind report, one third of the global population lives in societies in which workers' rights suffer a significant degree of repression.

20% unionised

The report stated that Jamaican trade unions are generally able to function without government interference. The report noted that approximately 20 per cent of the 1.2 million Jamaicans in the workforce are unionised. The Labor Relations and Industrial Disputes Act of 2006 states that workers have the right to create and join trade unions. The law prohibits anti-union discrimination and prevents employers from firing workers solely because of their union membership.

The Bahamas was the only Caribbean nation which had a "free" rating. Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana had a "mostly free" rating. The country with the largest economy in the world, the United States, was given a "mostly free" rating, while rising superpower China was given a "repressive" rating.