‘We don’t want it’

Growing unease over the controversial third-country nationals (TCN) agreement between Jamaica and the United States (US) has triggered pushback from trade union leaders, amid fears that the island could become a holding ground for undocumented migrants.

Vincent Morrison, veteran trade unionist and president of the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), has called for the Jamaican Government to withdraw the arrangement, while Techa Clarke-Griffiths, president of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), cautioned that the country was ill-prepared to shoulder the spillover of the US's immigration troubles.

“We have enough problems of our own here,” Clarke-Griffiths declared, while speaking last Thursday at an awards ceremony for long-serving civil servants in Manchester.

“We may retire with some persons that we don’t want to retire with that will be overnighting in Jamaica in the near future. We don’t want it. We don’t want it,” the JSCA head asserted.

Her comments were backed up by Morrison, who said the agreement lacks transparency and noted that the message from the Government about the issue has so far caused confusion.

“When you hear the different statements coming out from the different government officials, it’s quite apparent that something is wrong somewhere,” he told The Gleaner.

He said the agreement, which National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang confirmed had been signed last week, should be withdrawn.

Morrison argued that the Dr Andrew Holness-led administration should, instead, revisit discussions if, as indicated by Information Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon, they are seeking skilled workers.

“But skilled workers are not going to leave the United States and come to Jamaica. The persons who they are trying to send to Jamaica under this arrangement are not skilled workers,” he said.

“I don’t know if we can pay skilled workers. Our wage levels are just battering around minimum wage in some industries. The industries that usually pay decent wages, like the sugar industry or the bauxite and aluminium industry, those industries are virtually closed. So it’s a situation that won’t work. It won’t work. It’s a bad agreement and you can’t foist a bad agreement on the people.

“Yes, Government has the right to manage and to run the country, but [if] it’s something that is patently unfair and something that will not work then it must be dealt with,” he said.

Chang last week confirmed a Gleaner report that the US will, every two weeks, deport 25 TCNs to Jamaica who, he said, will be transiting through the country or may seek asylum.

Where the number of TCNs exceeds 10 in a 30-day window, the US is expected to pause the deportation arrangement.

The US Embassy in Kingston has not publicly commented on the matter that has become a lightning rod for criticism.

A diplomatic note from the embassy to the Government said Cabinet Minister Audrey Marks proposed the deal, but this has since been denied. Morris Dixon said it was a “mis-characterisation” of what her colleague proposed.

She said Marks proposed a skilled-worker arrangement.

Still, Morrison said there was still time for the agreement to be withdrawn and for both governments to “sit down and look at the situation with a view of correcting or totally revamping the agreement”.

“The Jamaican people will not allow that sort of thing to happen, and I think the Government runs a serious political risk if they allow this to happen at this time,” he said.

“If I was advising the Government, I would say to them, ‘What you’ve proposed doesn’t make sense, and since there is time you need to withdraw it’,” he said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com