Linton P. Gordon
The closure of the work site at the former Sunset Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios exposes the extent to which Jamaica is not yet ready for foreign investment.
As we all know, Mexican investors have bought the Jamaica Grande property in Ocho Rios and are said to be investing some United States Fifty Million Dollars (US$50,000,000) in renovating, expanding and modernizing the property.
Over 2,000 Jamaicans have obtained employment on the site. Concerns have been expressed about the number of Mexicans who are being employed on the site. There has also been a multiplicity of complaints by workers and sub-contractors on the site regarding pay, terms of employment and conditions of employment.
The situation deteriorated to the point where there was confrontation on the property which saw Mexican workers running away from Jamaicans in fear of their lives. There are also scenes of Jamaican workers violently breaking down the fence to the property and damaging and destroying areas of the fence and other items belonging to the investors.
Politicians were not to be left out and so we saw images of a politician who claimed to have intervened to resolve the disputes. This politician was shown on television assuring workers that “you will get your pay today”.
MEXICANS
A bone of contention by several persons and entities is that the Mexicans are seeking work permits for 300 of their workers. The contention of the workers, trade unions and some politicians is that the Mexicans should not be allowed as many as 300 workers. The Mexican investors have made it clear that they have Special Finishers who are used on all their projects to finish them at a standard that is kept uniformly throughout all projects they do.
It is difficult to see how the unions and workers can decide on the number of Finishers required on a project for which they do not have the expertise to do. It is also ridiculous for us to invite foreign investors here and then carry out violent activities against them at the site of their investment projects. (blurb) If we are inviting foreign investors here then we must respect their judgment and their right to arrange their investment and the implementation of their projects in accordance with their guidelines and their own principles, provided they are compliant with the Laws of Jamaica. We cannot just pull from a magical bag the number of Finishers that a hotelier needs to complete the final touches to his hotel at the standard he wishes to keep his hotel. None of the persons or entities complaining about the number of Mexicans workers being brought in has produced a Finisher who they can recommend to replace a single Finisher from Mexico. The demands and criticism of the unions are based on emotion, and are not grounded in logic, empirical evidence or proper information.
GOVERNMENT’S ROLE
From the commencement of this project the Government should have become more involved in monitoring the situation and in stemming any emerging disputes thereby avoiding escalation such as that which lead to the closure of the site.
It must be a serious deterrent to potential foreign inventors when they look on their television sets and see the levels of violence and vandalism being committed by workers at the Jamaica Grande location. No foreign investor will feel comfortable coming to Jamaica knowing that the possibility exists for his investment to be subject to hooliganism, violence and destructions of his assets at the location of his project.
WHO LOSES?
Now that the site is closed and the workers have gone home to sit down, one must ask the question, what have they achieved closing the site? Would they be happy for the investors to abandon the project and pull out? And if this is done, how would that help them?
The Government needs to take the initiative in not only inviting foreign investors to Jamaica but to walk these investment projects through, from implementation to successful completion.
The Government needs to anticipate problems and difficulties and deploy officers from the Ministry of Labour to the site(BLURB) to address all difficulties, disputes and issues and to see how best they can resolve them without the matter descending into open disputes, violent conformations and hooliganism.
The workers involved must be careful not to allow themselves to be misled by persons who cannot, will not and have never provided them with employment but are the first to incite them to escalate disputes and to close their avenue of employment.
The workers should remember our old time saying “half a loaf is better than no loaf at all”.
