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Keep the dream alive!
Michael Burke
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The sad reality is that Russell Capleton is dead. But the dream of employee share-ownership where workers own an airline and other businesses should be kept alive. Some years ago the staff of the Government Printing Office jointly bought out the business and formed the Jamaica Printing Services Limited, an example for others to follow. True, an airline is a far more expensive and difficult business, but the idea should still be kept alive.
Russell Capleton at one stage was my classmate at Jamaica College. Many mistakenly believe that I attended a Catholic high school just because I am Roman Catholic but that was not so. Both Russell Capleton and I grew up Roman Catholic and both of us attended Jamaica College, a non-denominational high school for boys. Russ Capleton's father Jethro Capleton, who owned an accounting firm, was a member of parliament after we left JC.
The first political party pin I ever had was given to me by Russell Capleton one day at JC in the 1960s. It was circular with the image of Norman Manley on it around which was written "Progress, Nationhood, Prosperity" (just like the PNP initials). And quite correctly, in retrospect, I was forbidden by the principal Mr WH Middleton to wear the pin on my school uniform (khaki with JC badge in those days, not blue).
In the last telephone conversation I had with Russ Capleton, he said that his concern was not his own job loss because he could get another job as a pilot. His concern was the flight attendants and the ground staff. They were to be a part of the ownership of Air Jamaica which was "Plan A". And "Plan B" was to lease aeroplanes to form a private Jamaican airline. But what happened in the meantime?
Many of us heard the news that the former Air Jamaica pilots either accepted jobs at Caribbean Airlines or with other airlines, some as far as the other side of the world. Younger pilots most naturally have to think of their own survival. Despite all of this, did Russell Capleton feel that he had been let down? I do not know, but when I heard that the former Air Jamaica pilots had taken up all these offers, I wondered what would happen to the dream.
Worker-ownership was called for by the late Pope John XXIII in his encyclical Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher) in 1961. It is a solution to the oppressive working conditions in many large business enterprises throughout the world where the ownership is in the hands of a few people.
Co-operative businesses are part of the way that we will achieve economic independence National Hero Norman Washington Manley said in his valedictory address to the People's National Party on November 10, 1968, that while the mission of his generation was the achievement of political independence, the mission of the next generation would be economic independence.
I am at present involved in the formation of a multi-purpose co-operative for the main purpose of providing jobs. To that end, we plan many projects and one of the dreams is to go into the hotel business. Indeed, the thinking is to invite people-based organisations like the Jamaican Airline Pilots Association to join us in the venture.
From JALPA's standpoint they would have full planeloads of passengers in their leased aeroplanes (if they still implement their "Plan B") as they would have a hotel to carry their passengers to while the co-operative would provide the jobs in the hotel. Quite frankly, I hope this will still happen.
Why is the solution to the growing problem of crime and violence seen only in terms of having more police? I am not degrading the importance of an expansion of the force on a temporary basis. But we will forever have the problem if we do not have social programmes. More important, as May is Child Month (or has that been abandoned?), we should be putting legislation in place that encourages family life. And we need more social workers to implement the plan.
Jobs are a very important part of the solution. In other countries trade unions went into forming worker co-operatives more than 30 years ago. Why won't Jamaica's trade unions do the same? Some years ago when the PNP was in power and teachers had a strike, I said to some of them that everyone knows that teachers should be paid more.
I asked them what part of the budget should be cut to give them an increase and I ask that today when the Jamaica Labour Party is in power. But extending the school term because of a two-day strike is spiteful and intimidatory. Just about everyone sees through it and knows that an extension would have nothing to do with the education of the students.
The solution for the teachers is worker-ownership of private enterprises. In the co-operative that I am involved in establishing, there is room for teachers, nurses, pilots and people of other occupations. May Russell Capleton's soul rest in peace as we who are still here do our best to keep the dream alive.
Michael Burke
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The sad reality is that Russell Capleton is dead. But the dream of employee share-ownership where workers own an airline and other businesses should be kept alive. Some years ago the staff of the Government Printing Office jointly bought out the business and formed the Jamaica Printing Services Limited, an example for others to follow. True, an airline is a far more expensive and difficult business, but the idea should still be kept alive.
Russell Capleton at one stage was my classmate at Jamaica College. Many mistakenly believe that I attended a Catholic high school just because I am Roman Catholic but that was not so. Both Russell Capleton and I grew up Roman Catholic and both of us attended Jamaica College, a non-denominational high school for boys. Russ Capleton's father Jethro Capleton, who owned an accounting firm, was a member of parliament after we left JC.
The first political party pin I ever had was given to me by Russell Capleton one day at JC in the 1960s. It was circular with the image of Norman Manley on it around which was written "Progress, Nationhood, Prosperity" (just like the PNP initials). And quite correctly, in retrospect, I was forbidden by the principal Mr WH Middleton to wear the pin on my school uniform (khaki with JC badge in those days, not blue).
In the last telephone conversation I had with Russ Capleton, he said that his concern was not his own job loss because he could get another job as a pilot. His concern was the flight attendants and the ground staff. They were to be a part of the ownership of Air Jamaica which was "Plan A". And "Plan B" was to lease aeroplanes to form a private Jamaican airline. But what happened in the meantime?
Many of us heard the news that the former Air Jamaica pilots either accepted jobs at Caribbean Airlines or with other airlines, some as far as the other side of the world. Younger pilots most naturally have to think of their own survival. Despite all of this, did Russell Capleton feel that he had been let down? I do not know, but when I heard that the former Air Jamaica pilots had taken up all these offers, I wondered what would happen to the dream.
Worker-ownership was called for by the late Pope John XXIII in his encyclical Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher) in 1961. It is a solution to the oppressive working conditions in many large business enterprises throughout the world where the ownership is in the hands of a few people.
Co-operative businesses are part of the way that we will achieve economic independence National Hero Norman Washington Manley said in his valedictory address to the People's National Party on November 10, 1968, that while the mission of his generation was the achievement of political independence, the mission of the next generation would be economic independence.
I am at present involved in the formation of a multi-purpose co-operative for the main purpose of providing jobs. To that end, we plan many projects and one of the dreams is to go into the hotel business. Indeed, the thinking is to invite people-based organisations like the Jamaican Airline Pilots Association to join us in the venture.
From JALPA's standpoint they would have full planeloads of passengers in their leased aeroplanes (if they still implement their "Plan B") as they would have a hotel to carry their passengers to while the co-operative would provide the jobs in the hotel. Quite frankly, I hope this will still happen.
Why is the solution to the growing problem of crime and violence seen only in terms of having more police? I am not degrading the importance of an expansion of the force on a temporary basis. But we will forever have the problem if we do not have social programmes. More important, as May is Child Month (or has that been abandoned?), we should be putting legislation in place that encourages family life. And we need more social workers to implement the plan.
Jobs are a very important part of the solution. In other countries trade unions went into forming worker co-operatives more than 30 years ago. Why won't Jamaica's trade unions do the same? Some years ago when the PNP was in power and teachers had a strike, I said to some of them that everyone knows that teachers should be paid more.
I asked them what part of the budget should be cut to give them an increase and I ask that today when the Jamaica Labour Party is in power. But extending the school term because of a two-day strike is spiteful and intimidatory. Just about everyone sees through it and knows that an extension would have nothing to do with the education of the students.
The solution for the teachers is worker-ownership of private enterprises. In the co-operative that I am involved in establishing, there is room for teachers, nurses, pilots and people of other occupations. May Russell Capleton's soul rest in peace as we who are still here do our best to keep the dream alive.
