Charles: It is a matter of creating a shorter workweek to spread the available jobs among workers. - file

THE QUEST to reduce the number of hands made idle by the recession has pushed the Government towards implementing the long-talked-about flexi workweek.

Labour Minister Pearnel Charles is promising that the announcement will be made shortly.

"The emphasis in the flexible worweek will be on how we can increase jobs and improve productivity," Charles said.

"... It is a matter of creating a shorter workweek to spread the available jobs among workers. If we can complete 40 hours in three and a half days, we can literally get some more workers on shift into these businesses," Charles told The Gleaner.

Trade union gives go-ahead

The recession has knocked approximately 20,000 jobs out of the local economy. Charles said he has no indication that worker retrenchment is coming to an end anytime soon.

As Jamaica continues to wilt under the pressure of a weak economy, the trade-union movement has given its blessing to the planned implementation of flexi week.

However, Danny Roberts, vice-president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, argued that flexi time cannot be viewed as "a stand-alone concept for competitiveness".

"We have to improve our productivity if we are going to improve Jamaica's competitive-ness. ... We must pay attention to efforts that will improve total factor efficiency, such as job creation," Roberts said.

However, Roberts conceded that job sharing, which flexi time proposes, is critical to job security, especially in a fragile economy such as Jamaica's.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com