One activist group has identified Barbados’ gas station attendants, domestic workers and security guards as some of the people most vulnerable to unfair practices.
It has therefore called on Minister of Labour Dr Esther Byer-Suckoo to move with haste to get the Employment Rights Act proclaimed, and to look at implementing other pieces of legislation that will protect them from inequitable practices.
Coordinator of the gender equality committee of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), Wilma Clement, raised the concerns with members of the media yesterday at the BWU’s home, Solidarity House, following the presentation of a petition to the minister for ratification.
“We are particularly concerned about the gas station attendants and the fact that they have to work long hours and the breaks are few, if there are any,” she said.
“And we often see some of those workers working [from] one shift to another. There is also the health and safety concern of those fumes and we also see a number of young pregnant women working in gas stations . . . .
“We go into the gas station and see the worker having a nice ham cutter and serving us gas – so that too. We would like to see the condition of those workers improve,” Clement said, referring to the problems as affecting gas stations around the island.
But general manager of Sol Redmans, Tyrone Maycock, said such statements did not apply to his operations. He said workers were allowed their break.
“Our workers are treated fairly by the company here. They will tell you. We run a three-shift system . . . and the females do not work on the late shift,” he said.
Clement said her group was also concerned about the working hours of cleaners. She also raised concerns over working conditions for security guards, saying that some were working double shifts, operating in areas that were dark and not safe and they were not given breaks.
“So these are issues that we are raising today that the committee thought that we need to get out in the streets and be, in this case, our sisters’ keepers . . . . We want to make it known that there are these concerns and that we want them rectified.
“So we want to implore those who can – the powers that be – to speed up the process so that the security guards, cleaners and other workers who really need it are covered and taken care of as quickly as possible,” she said.
Meanwhile, Byer-Suckoo, joining the group in celebrating International Women’s Day under the theme A Promise Is A Promise: Time For Action To End Violence Against Women, said the ministry was working on “securing a date” for the proclamation of the Employment Rights Act that was passed last May.
“So we are trying to ensure that . . . the Employment Rights Act, until other legislation comes on board, will protect all workers, including our vulnerable workers.
“Gas station workers, we are looking at them right now in the Ministry of Labour. I have asked that we look at what they are exposed to and what their wages are. . . . Ignorance of the law is no excuse,” she said. (AH)