A war of words has erupted between a leading businessman and Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) boss Sir Roy Trotman, with the former questioning whether the union wants to be an obstruction to progress and productivity.
Businessman Mark Maloney, the chief executive officer of Preconco, has hit out at Sir Roy, saying the veteran unionist “chooses to make personal attacks . . . rather than to speak to the facts about the matters that confront us, and to let the nation know what is really going on”.
The businessman’s statement came in response to Sir Roy’s warning to business leaders over the weekend that they will run into serious trouble if they seek to bypass the national interest and the rights of port workers.
The BWU general secretary was commenting on the union’s objection to Preconco Limited loading a barge with 60-foot-long pre-cast concrete slabs at the Flour Mill site of the Bridgetown Port Inc., using Preconco’s labour and equipment.
The union protested the matter and threatened to close the port. the Government got involved and the port’s management was instructed to pay the workers the $22 194 in fees they would have received had the slabs been handled by them.
