At the busy Miami airport, 15 years ago, Collin Rumble was about to board a return flight to Jamaica after a challenging first season on the H2A Labour Programme, when he decided to assist an older gentleman who was struggling with his luggage. Little did the Clarendon native know at the time, that the encounter would lead him to a...

At the busy Miami airport, 15 years ago, Collin Rumble was about to board a return flight to Jamaica after a challenging first season on the H2A Labour Programme, when he decided to assist an older gentleman who was struggling with his luggage. Little did the Clarendon native know at the time, that the encounter would lead him to a...

A Jamaican participating in the seasonal agricultural workers programme in Canada is encouraging local farmers to improve their agronomic methods and suggests several ways this can be done. JIS News met John Kent* on an apple orchard in rural Ontario on October 15, while accompanying a Jamaican team of fact-finders who are probing the workers’ status. Mr. Kent is a...

Alongside the 80 to 85 per cent of Jamaican returnees on Canada’s seasonal agricultural workers programme are newcomers who, each year, seize the opportunity to participate in the decades-old engagement. One such is St. Catherine’s Mark Grant*, who works on one of the largest apple farms in Ontario.   Mr. Grant is a transferee from a neighboring peach and nectarine...

If the image of farmers on bended knees, manually tending to crops, comes to mind when thinking about the Canadian seasonal agricultural workers programme, then it might come as a surprise that the reality is it is largely mechanically driven. For the most part, Jamaican workers on the farms which JIS News has so far visited while accompanying a team...

Among the thousands of Jamaicans, who leave the island every year for Canada to participate in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Programme, is a large group of women, who are holding their own alongside their male counterparts. They are employed on properties, such as a 2,500-acre apple farm in the Simcoe, Ontario area, where they are picking and packing the fruit....

Data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) show that the number of women securing employment is gradually increasing. According to STATIN’s October 2021 Labour Force Survey, of the 76,600 additional persons gaining jobs to expand the employed labour force by 6.6 per cent to 1,234,800, women accounted for 43,700. This out-turn represents 57 per cent of the overall additional...

Director of the Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) Department in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Marlon Mahon, says every organisation should have in place an effective OSH Management System. The OSH Policy, which guides the management system, outlines the key principles and objectives that an organisation has committed to in maintaining a safe and healthy workplace. Such a...

Teleworking, described as the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to perform work outside of the traditional office setting, has become increasing popular globally, as employers ensure business continuity during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In Jamaica, this is no different, as the Government and several private sector entities have implemented work-from-home policies, as part of measures to contain the...