The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) official was puzzled. Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson speculated that it may have been a case of clashing events. Whatever the reason, the absence of the majority of officially invited dignitaries from yesterday’s church service to stimulate public awareness of Labour Day was conspicuous.

“The JCDC sent out 250 invitations to the Cabinet, members of parliament, the diplomatic corps, the judiciary and clergy. But I am unable to say why they have not attended the service,” JCDC production manager, Michael Nicholson told the Observer after the thanksgiving service at Christian Fellowship World Outreach Church on Dunrobin Avenue in Kingston.

The handful of local officials in attendance included Henry-Wilson; National Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips; Labour and Social Welfare Minister Horace Dalley, who represented Prime Minister P J Patterson; member of parliament Olivia “Babsy” Grange, who represented Opposition Leader Edward Seaga; custos of Kingston Rev Carmen Stewart; and Morin Seymour of the Kingston Restoration Company.

Most of the pews reserved for visitors were filled with police officers.

Henry-Wilson, whose ministry is responsible for Labour Day arrangements, blamed the absence of the invitees on two other special church services which were being held in the capital simultaneously.

“I don’t know if it is because this year the national church service is in Kingston, and also because there are two other major church services taking place in Kingston this morning,” Henry-Wilson said.

“There is the Wolmer’s High School 275th anniversary, which is an important service, and a lot of people are attending it, and the Entertainment Week celebration church service, which I am saying may account for the officials’ absence. But I know that certainly in terms of the Cabinet, we had to split up to attend all three services in Kingston,” Henry-Wilson told the Observer.

In fact, the only apology tendered was from Spanish ambassador, Rafael Jover, who suffered a heart attack on Friday and was flown out of the country to the USA yesterday morning.

The absence of guests aside, the small congregation listened to preacher Dr Lyndon Johnson lecture the Government on the need for job creation.

“We have to fill the void of national shame to produce jobs,” Dr Johnson, who chairs the Jamaica Pentecostal Union of Apostolics, said. “We have to go after the root of this national shame, we cannot live as mendicants and professional borrowers or wait on foreign consultants to tell us what to do.”

He suggested that the Government create more free zones to facilitate an expansion of the labour force and warned: “People whose heartbeat is saying production and justice need to come together and produce and provide employment, because it is not a matter of providing clichés and platitudes, it should be a purpose to drive the country that serves its needs.”

He called on the Government to break its addiction to debt, saying that one way of achieving this was to encourage production.

Henry-Wilson, in her message, lauded Jamaican workers who, she said, provided opportunities for nation-building in 1938 by challenging the injustice meted out to them. She said that today, the worker was again leading the way to put Jamaica on a sustainable path of development by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Government.

Under the agreement, public sector workers will forego wage increases for two years in exchange for the Government staying the slashing of up to 15,000 jobs as part of an effort to rein in the public sector deficit, which closed the year at around seven per cent, above the projected three to four per cent forecast by the finance minister.

“Government will do what it can to preserve this,” Henry-Wilson pledged yesterday. “We salute the Jamaican worker.”

Labour Day will be observed on May 24.