IN THE FACE of layoffs that have already begun in the public service, trade unions have been accused of not standing up for workers of Barbados.
Former dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Dr George Belle, made the strong charge as he accused union officials of adopting a neo-liberal “win-win” philosophy.
In his speech to mark the end of Kwanzaa celebrations by the Pan African Coalition of Organizations (PACO) Wednesday night at Pelican Village, Belle said: “I’m hoping that Sir Roy [general secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union] can do his duty, and I’m hoping that Dennis Clarke [general secretary] of the National Union of Public Workers has some doubts in his mind as well, but there are a lot of the others that I really don’t know what they stand for.”
He said as far as the Social Partnership was concerned, “it is not surprising to me that Sir Roy has broken away from the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations, it is not surprising to me that the Barbados Union of Teachers did not give the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) any support, and it is not surprising to me that a set of trade unionists in Barbados are looking for all kinds of excuses not to defend the workers”.
