Dear Editor,

The prospect of having to make members of the public sector redundant must be the most painful undertaking any government will ever have to face – it is equivalent to giving permission to have your child’s leg amputated. The worldwide economic crisis has driven our government to contemplate such a course and a committee has been assigned to review, offset and ultimately implement same.

As a father of a four-year-old and step-father of a 14-year-old, I identify and agonise with parents of school-age children and the thought of those parents finding themselves unemployed is too awful to contemplate. It is the thought of those whose severance will be exhausted in under a year and left abandoned that alarms me most. At the end of the day, dislocation is a stark and frightening reality.

From the day I first read the National Pledge, I have held firmly to the belief that Jamaica has a role of leadership to give to the world – and the dilemma our government faces is one faced by countless governments the world over. I believe this economic meltdown is the opportunity Jamaica has been waiting for to show the world the way out of this disaster, and I wish to commend an idea to the nation.

It cannot be right for some of us to continue to live, work and be paid, just as if we are not in a crisis, while others who previously worked side by side with us are turned out on the streets to eke out a living. I appeal to fellow Jamaicans to do something to meet that day: volunteer to take a reduction in our present salaries so that we may assist the committee to avoid redundancies.

I am a pensioner and I am making the offer to authorise the deduction of 10 per cent of my pension monthly to go towards a fund which, if supported, will enable workers who would normally be laid off to be retained. I invite every government worker to think about it and to support it. Not by what they can afford, because most of us are already stretched to the limit, but by the prospect of what we cannot allow to occur. Bearing in mind that the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions is in discussion with government within the context of the social partnership agreement, I recommend that as part of the solution they agree to a 10 per cent reduction of the pay packet of all workers they represent. This would help to reduce the number of workers to be made redundant.

Should this exercise succeed, it must bring with it a fresh resolve on the part of all government workers to cherish their jobs and a determination to be the best and most responsible employees they can be, at whatever level of employment they are.

Let us show the world that little Jamaica, with all its problems, can truly be our brother’s keeper and let the battle cry be “…that none be abandoned”, bearing in mind that the job you save may be your own.

Howard Hamilton

26 Duke Street

Kingston