TALKS AIMED at ending a week-long sugar factory strike will resume today — with the first glimmer of optimism.
Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) general secretary Sir Roy Trotman told reporters yesterday afternoon that he was “more optimistic” than he was two days before about the outcome of negotiations involving Minister of Labour Dr Esther Byer Suckoo and Chief Labour Officer Vincent Burnett.
The BWU is at odds with the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC), which runs the Portvale factory, where workers stopped work last Thursday.
Asked by the media about the possibility of the row being settled today, Sir Roy said: “I believe that industrial relations is the kind of exercise or discipline where very much depends on goodwill and I haven’t seen a lot of goodwill in Barbados in 2014.”
