WATCH: Security guards stage protest at Guardsman HQ
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Security guards employed by Guardsman Security Company staged another protest, demanding fair treatment for their years of service rendered to the group.
Several guards lined up outside the company’s gates on Old Hope Road on Thursday in the second protest action this month.
READ: WATCH: Security guards protest over new employment contract
“We ago fight Benjamin to di bone until we get we money. We nuh wah nuh more work,” said a clearly disgruntled Dave Thomas. Thomas told OBSERVER ONLINE that he has given the Guardsman Company 40 years of service and now, he just wants to be treated with some level of fairness.
“I am here with my fellow co-workers defending our rights,” he continued.
The workers, who gathered outside the Guardsman headquarters, say they are being forced to sign new contracts with very little benefits in their favour. They are therefore requesting that management pay over monies owed to them, indicating that they are no longer interested in working with the company.
Security guards and the companies they have been employed to have been at loggerheads since the beginning of the month. This after a Supreme Court ruling was handed down last September indicating that security guards be regarded as employees and not contract workers.
The ruling became effective Saturday, April 1.
Since then, security guards have revealed the new contracts being offered by their employers do not have their best interests at heart. They have also expressed that refusal to sign said contracts have resulted in them not being allowed to work.
The matter was last week addressed by Opposition Leader Mark Golding, who called on the Andrew Holness-led government to move swiftly to arrive at a solution beneficial to all parties involved.
Golding indicated that although the Ministry of Labour has tried to “wash its hands” of the issue, “the best solution is to bring both sides to the table to work out and negotiate a solution that all can embrace. The government needs to act as an honest broker between the security companies and the security guards to work out a solution that is balanced and fair to all.”
READ: WATCH: Golding urges Gov’t to intervene in matter over security guards employment contract