AFTER ALMOST a quarter of a century in the post, Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) general secretary Sir Roy Trotman is retiring in August.
He is expected to be replaced by his deputy, Toni Moore, a 37-year-old graduate of Combermere School, the University of the West Indies and McMaster University, Canada.
Sir Roy, who joined the BWU in 1971 and became general secretary in 1992, made the announcements yesterday during a media briefing at the union’s headquarters in Harmony Hall, St Michael.
He reported that the union’s executive council had approved his recommendation of Moore, a deputy general secretary and director of industrial relations. He explained that her nomination would have to face a vote by the union’s general membership in August.
Sir Roy said that since 2009, when he was 65, he had been talking to the union leadership about retiring but had been asked to stay on because of various factors, including the troubled state of the country’s economy.
However, he told reporters, “I believe you can stick around too long”.
He said that with a succession plan in place and with various elements of the BWU – including the Labour College and Industrial Relations Department – in good shape, he thought it was time for him to go.
The veteran trade unionist, who succeeded National Hero Sir Frank Walcott, plans to do “a lot of writing”, including “a little bit of biography”, after he retires.
Moore will be the first female general secretary of the BWU, which has Linda Brooks as its first woman president. (TY)
