LOWER LIGHT BILLS could be one outcome if the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) gets what it wants from landmark negotiations with the island’s electricity company.
Union leader Sir Roy Trotman says workers at the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited could be losing overtime pay in the process but one of the things the BWU has set its sights on is “a reduction in energy costs to the consumer”.
The proposals on energy are falling within the framework for discussions on a new pay agreement which should be implemented from January 2013.
They will touch on flexi-time and impact overtime payments, with BWU general secretary Sir Roy admitting the prospect of losing overtime was a concern among some BL&P workers.
He said this had to be seen again the backdrop of contractions in the Barbados economy, employment losses, the longer time it was taking people to find another job and the union’s own commitment to economic stability.
The union “wants to develop a scheme which would show the workers’ concessions being reflected in a reduction in energy costs to the consumer”, Sir Roy told a news conference at the union’s Harmony Hall, St Michael headquarters yesterday.
