Jamaica Association Of Local Government Officers

Not one to back down easily from a challenge, the 40-year-old trade Unionist is as renowned for telling it like it is as for her tenacity and organisational skills.

These traits have helped her to forge a career as Jamaica's most successful woman in the trade union movement today.

But the ride to the top - General Secretary of the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers (JALGO) - has not been smooth for Mrs. Davis-Whyte. She has had to answer, through her performance, those who questioned her competence and ability to navigate the rough seas of industrial relations.

She recalled the illness of E. Lloyd Taylor, former JALGO General Secretary in 1992 and the ensuing three-year power struggle for the leadership. Though an

obvious contender, many in the ranks doubted her guts for the job because she is a woman. Her situation was made even more difficult because of her age. "Among those who were opposed (were those who) felt I was too young and I should wait my turn, she said. "I was then about 36 and persons who were in the union for 20-odd going 30 years felt that they had served their apprenticeship long ago and they were the ones who should have been given the responsibility (to lead)."

Although there were those who reckoned that her long years of apprenticeship under Taylor prepared her for the task, it was the dissenting voices that When the ballots were cast and the results announced, Mrs. Davis-Whyte had emerged the victor and the new General Secretary of JALGO.

She had paid her dues. A union delegate between 1981 and 1983 while working at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC),' she was seconded to JALGO in 1983, serving as an officer for three years. In 1985 she became negotiating officer, which allowed her to meet grass roots members from across the island. She figured that the interaction with union members at this level gave her an advantage in managing a largely male dominated organisation.

Vice-president of the National Workers Union (NWU) Danny Roberts, who has worked for years with Mrs. Davis-Whyte in the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), described her as bright and hard working. She had always shown signs of top quality leadership, he said' adding that it came as no surprise that she had risen to her current position. "It was very evident that she had the ability and intelligence."

Living up to her trademark of telling it like it is, the JALGO General Secretary said she tells workers what they need to hear and not what they want to hear. "I don't sugar coat it," she said

In the present economic crunch, Mrs. Davis-Whyte said one of the most difficult messages she has had to put across to the membership is that they have to be pre-. pared to make trade-offs in the interest of job security.

Many delegates, she said, particularly the older ones, feel that the role of the union is to oppose, even to the detriment of their employer. In a changing economic climate this method has to change, she observed.

One of her key messages to Jamaican workers is to abandon the idea that jobs in Jamaica belong to Jamaicans, especially in light of the commitment made by regional governments to a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) single market economy.

The only way workers in Jamaica are going to be able to survive is by being multi-skilled and well trained. These areas, she said, are going to have to receive more focus by the Trade Union Movement.