STRESSING the importance of consultation, Sir Roy Trotman has made it clear the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) will not allow the seaport to become a venue for “private ports to spring up whenever it suits the fancy of the employer”.
Sir Roy was responding to the issue where by monthend workers will share in a payout of $22 194 from the Barbados Port Inc. (BPI) because it allowed a private company to load items for export in the port without informing the BWU or using workers it represented.
The payout by BPI was part of a compromise with the BWU to avoid industrial action over the matter.
The BPI had leased a portion of land at the Flour Mill site to a subsidiary of Preconco Limited to store 60-feet concrete piles for export to Trinidad.
“One of the reasons why the union objected to that operation was that it was work that had been done before. It is port work and the only reason that we can think of why they sought to bring items out of the port was that they want to reduce the cost of that labour.
