After years of literal suffering on the job, the court last week ruled that security guards are employees, not contractors, and should be treated accordingly ordering security companies to pay their portion of the guards' @TheNHT contributions.

Security companies' response: Government should:

1. Change the Minimum Wage Act to increase the workweek from 40 to 60 hours.

2. Agree to a 49.6 per cent rate adjustment on all state contracts as of September 23.

3. Immediately pay over billions of dollars it owes to security companies.

#Thread
For those who have an ear: I spoke this morning with a nurse at one of Jamaica's major hospitals. She detailed an emotional encounter last night when a patient almost passed out. The patient was saved only because another died and so she was able to use her oxygen. "Everybody exposed," the nurse told me. "Everybody mix up... positive, negative and suspected."

NOW: IGL managing director Peter Graham says three shipments are expected to arrive tomorrow as Jamaica grapples with a shortage of medical oxygen. He tells @GiovanniRDennis on #ThatsARap that his team is overworked and stretched to the limit. "We're on a dangerous trajectory." Graham: The situation is so grave across the world with the demand for medical oxygen. He says in some cases IGL is importing oxygen at higher costs than it is selling to hospitals.

The backstory to the #PNP resignations is interesting. The team that supported Mark Golding in the last presidential election was negotiating with the supporters of former presidential candidate Lisa Hanna. The target was to have two candidates from both ‘camps’ nominated as VPs. On the ‘Hanna’ slate were Mikael Phillips, Dr Wykeham McNeill and Donna Scott-Mottley. On the ‘Golding’ slate were Richard Azan and Norman Scott. No side was willing to drop one candidate to make way for the other. This would mean a VP election in an already fractured party.

The @AuGDJa has found that the JUTC has racked up $1.15 billion in unapproved staff while exceeding the overtime budget by $728.6 million. Then there is the 'Tree of Casualty' with governance gaps at its root. #JUTCreport: No evidence that the positions for nine of 21 senior managers sampled were advertised; and no evidence that eight senior managers were interviewed in accordance with guidelines.

NOW: JTA president Owen Speid on @MorningAgenda on @Power106fmJa. He says #KarlSamuda's claim that 31,000 students have not been able to connect for online classes is seemingly "out of whack". It's way too low, Speid says. Insists around 200,000 students are being left behind. "It's mass confusion," says Speid, again calling for a suspension of the online/distant leaving programme amid the #COVIDー19 pandemic.