PRIME MINISTER Freundel Stuart has given a strong hint of a legislative response to any industrial action by trade unions that might shut down Barbados.
Speaking to the media at Accra Beach Hotel today, the Prime Minister said Section 48 of the Constitution of Barbados “makes very clear that Parliament can make laws for the peace, the order and the good government of Barbados” as he observed there was a “new wine of industrial relations which we are being asked to drink” in a new style of trade unionism he characterised as “bluster, bullying and blackmail.”
“We have relied on the maturity, the conscientiousness the civic-minded ness and the goodwill of our trade union leaders to manage this process and it has worked very, very well for us over the years.”
The Prime Minister said “what I now have to do, since I have deliberately allowed Barbadians to see what is possible if you allow elements that have no respect for process… (is) to take control of the national situation in the industrial relations arena.” (GC)