Court fines security company $500,000
November 23, 2005
THE security company Marksman Ltd was yesterday fined $500,000 and its senior director Valerie Dugan Brown fined $50,000 for breaches of the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court.
However, the company, in a statement last night, said it had instructed its attorneys to file an appeal against the ruling, which was handed down by Resident Magistrate Georgiana Fraser.
In the meantime, trade unions which have been seeking to represent workers at the security company hailed the ruling of the court, and said it should pave the way for union representation for security guards.
It is alleged that in 2003 the United Union of Jamaica (UUJ) and the National Workers Union (NWU) sent several correspondences to Marksman Ltd requesting information to allow them to seek bargaining rights for the company's guards. Marksman, the court was told, failed to forward the necessary information to the unions to have the workers represented. This prompted the intervention of the Ministry of Labour who accused Marksman Ltd of union busting and sought legal action against the security company.
Trade unions have for years been trying to seek representational rights for security companies. The security companies hold that the guards are independent contractors who do not qualify for union representation, while the trade unions, supported by the labour ministry, maintain that as legal employees of the security firms, the guards are entitled to union representation....
Author: Vaughn Davis
Source: Jamaica Observer
