The following is a joint statement from the Barbados Union of Teachers, the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union, the Barbados Workers’ Union and the National Union of Public Workers on the suggestion that there are political motives behind ongoing industrial action.
The Barbados Union of Teachers, the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union, the Barbados Workers’ Union and the National Union of Public Workers have learnt of a missive with malicious intent which has been making its rounds across Barbados which seeks to reduce the focus of our efforts to a political attempt to “support a private sector statement of no confidence in the current government.” This is not entirely surprising and it will probably not be the last such attempt.
It is unfortunate that many such malevolent strategies are being choreographed by those mischief makers whose sole intention is to try to shift focus away from the principled stance to which we have been appealing to in the interest of our country. We are confident that all right thinking Barbadians will see those efforts, and all those persons behind them, for their true worth.
Our four (4) trade unions reject any and all notions of political motive in any aspect of our actions. We continue to push for the interests of our constituents, very mindful of the partisan sensitivities of those whom we lead.
We continue to insist that the government must exercise purposeful leadership in bringing the key stakeholders of this country together for the purpose of meaningful dialogue to address the critical economic realities which impact upon us all. We continue to maintain the view that there needs to be an increase for public sector workers who have not received an increase in almost a decade.
Additionally we recognise the National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL) as an unnecessary and repressive imposition on the citizens of this country, particularly the vulnerable – the workers and pensioners at the bottom of the scale.
We will continue to act in the manner provided for in the democracy which today is still ours, to be the voice of and for the people we serve. Beyond the complaints, we look forward to being part of the solution and we therefore anticipate that another three weeks won’t go by where we are unable to participate in a meaningful recovery exercise.
We therefore emphatically disassociate ourselves from any move that would align our interests with any initiative which has as its objective a call for elections. Our only focus is to deliver on the will of the people we serve. In this we urge meaningful support.
