Government must now clarify for the International Labour Organization (ILO) exactly why it chose the country’s umbrella union body over the union claiming the highest membership, to attend last month’s 102nd annual ILO session in Geneva, Switzerland.
Following an objection made recently by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) regarding the nomination of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) over the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) as the workers’ delegate in Geneva, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has to respond and will do so within a month.
Minister of Labour and Social Security Esther Byer-Suckoo yesterday confirmed that the ILO’s credentials committee had lodged the strongly worded objection by the ITUC, and had concluded that it was not convinced that Government had nominated CTUSAB in agreement with “the most representative workers’ organizations”.
According to the credentials committee’s report, the ITUC stated that the nomination of CTUSAB was made in breach of Article 3 of the ILO Constitution, that in 2010 a newly elected leadership team of CTUSAB had started efforts to “supplant” the BWU, and that the Government of Barbados had “disregarded the criteria of representativeness”.
