Several women workers in wholesales in downtown Kingston say that they are seeing minimal improvements in their working conditions after a study released earlier this year which highlighted the poor working conditions in some wholesale establishments downtown.

"I don't really see any great improvement as yet but at least they (her employers) are making an effort for us to get lunch time. I still don't know if we are going to get one full hour; but last week one of the boss told us that we need to organise among ourselves who will go to lunch first," said Angella*, an employee at a dry goods store on Barry Street.

She said this came as a surprise to them as before they had to eat in between serving customers.

She described this as almost an impossible feat as there were very few moments when the store was not filled with customers.

"The other day when we got a little break and I could actually come out of the store, I took my time and went to get things for one of my sons which I needed to get for the longest while but couldn't because we work six days a week," she said.

Although some of the workers say their employers have not yet instituted things like vacation leave and health benefits, they are willing to wait awhile longer now that they know their rights and know how to get redress.

"I am willing to wait a little longer because my boss said they have to sort out paper work before they can start giving us health benefits but I'm willing to wait for now," said Caren*, an employee at a dry goods store along Princess Street.

"If in another couple of weeks they don't say anything else to us, then we are just going to march down to the Ministry of Labour," she said.

A recent visit to a number of wholesales on Orange, Princess and Barry Street downtown showed some visible changes as workers who would normally stand for the entire day were allowed to sit, in some cases on high stools as they await the next customer.

The survey, done by Ann-Murray Brown for her Master's thesis at the University of the West Indies, showed that the women were, among other things, denied maternity benefits, overtime pay, sick leave, prevented from sitting for entire days, and made to do back-breaking work.

There are an estimated 600 women working in wholesale bargain stores in the downtown Kingston business district.

Brown's report also cited human rights breaches, as well as violations of Jamaica's employment and labour laws and the International Labour Organisation's Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

According to Brown's Report, in addition to long working hours at the wholesales which employed mainly women, there was a lack of health and other fringe benefits, inadequate leave entitlements, while the workers were forced to cope with improper ventilation and sanitary conveniences.

Yet, despite all the breaches, Brown said the women - mainly uneducated 18-25-year-old mothers of several children, living in the slums of downtown Kingston - did not recognise that their human rights were being violated and that legal remedies existed.

This has changed somewhat however after the Ministry of Labour and Social Security launched an investigation into the conditions of the women.

The investigation verified some of the issues raised in the study and recently senior officials from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security met with more than 70 owners and operators of a number of wholesale establishments to sensitise them on the requirements of the Labour Laws as well as provide a forum for them to discuss their concerns.

According to Angella, just as she was about to throw in the towel after working in unbearable conditions for a year and two months, the Ministry intervened.

She noted that there have also been talks of them getting vacation leave but she said that has not been officially communicated to them as yet.

"One of the girls I work with was telling me that the Ministry of Labour said we must get leave from work and so we are waiting for them to tell us what is going to happen about that and if we wait too long and we see that nothing is going to happen, we are going to go to them because we know our rights now," she said.

Chief technical director in the Ministry of Labour, Faith Innerarity, assured the operators that the Ministry was there to facilitate both workers and employers and that protecting their investment and safeguarding the rights of the workers were equally important.

Meanwhile director of Pay and Condition of Employment Branch at the Ministry, Michael Kennedy, outlined the guidelines on payment of salaries, overtime, vacation, sick and maternity leave, termination of employment and the importance of establishing and maintaining employees' records.

He also highlighted some preliminary findings of the ministry's investigations of the operations of the wholesales.

Other presentations were also made on the National Insurance scheme (NIS), occupational safety and health, trafficking in persons and work permit requirements.

Both parties described the meeting as fruitful and vowed to keep the lines of communication open.

At the same time the Ministry has also met with the CEDAW Advocacy Committee - which released Brown's report to the media - and both entities have agreed to work together on public education for the labour force.

But such knowledge is already making a difference as one employee at a wholesale on Orange Street said she would take action against her employers if they continued in the same way, since she now knows her rights.

Fortunately for her Sally* may not have to consider that option in the near future as she said her employers have already began to institute measures which should see them working under better conditions.

"Well the first thing is that they have started to change the way they talk to us. Before they used to talk down to us but now already we can see that them being more cautious about what they say," she explained.

Having only started working five months at the establishment Sally said she was told she is not yet entitled to vacation leave but would get it as soon as she becomes eligible.

She said she did not know just how many days she would be entitled to.

She said her employers have also promised to pay her $300 if she works two hours beyond an eight-hour shift on a Saturday.

This is great news for her as she usually gets to work at 8 am on a Saturday and does not leave until 7.

"Now that little $300 will come in handy in my salary because I use to work such long hours before now and nothing," she said.

Her colleague, who gave her name only as Munchy, noted that she was eagerly awaiting the health benefits that she recently found out she was entitled to.

"Is three children I have without a father and when they are sick I have to fork out the money to carry them to Children's Hospital and to buy medication and on top of that I am not getting pay for the day that I take off from work," she said.
Now Munchy is optimistic that she and her fellow employees will shortly have access to health benefits.

"Well it hasn't begun as yet but I asked my boss about it and she says that she is going to get the forms for us to sign up so I am just waiting to see what happens now," she said.
She also expressed appreciation for the report, which she said, informed them about a number of things which they had taken for granted.

"You have to understand that some of us were so glad to get the little work and people like me never ever have no big big job so I never know what to expect," she said.

She said she was only too happy to get the job, which pays $3,000 for the week, since she was the sole provider for her children.

 "I didn't even see the article, is one of my friends that work at a wholesale on Orange Street called me and asked me if  I didn't see it," she said, noting that she immediately borrowed the paper and read it for herself.

"I think that a lot of things are going to change around here. You see they know that what them use to do is now out there in the open and we finally know our rights so if they don't do it a couple of us a plan to go right to the Ministry or to the media," she said.

* Not their real names.