TODAY’S MEETING BETWEEN the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) and the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is simply about the money; $142 000 per month to be exact.
That’s how much general manager Doug Hoyte had earlier estimated the state-owned broadcasting company would have to add to its wage bill if the union’s demands to have four increments paid to CBC staff was met.
It took seven days of a standoff between the union and its members and the CBC, but after a ten-hour long meeting on Wednesday, the CBC finally caved to the union’s demands.
The latest development meant that on Wednesday employees were back on the job following strike action.
“What we put on the table cost $102 000 a month, in addition to our monthly salaries. The additional amount that would be increased by is $40 000,” Hoyte had told the SUNDAY SUN last week.
At the time he explained the CBC would not be able to handle that kind of increase to salaries as it was already being crippled by a $124 million debt and declining revenues.
But after yesterday’s meetings, BWU general secretary Toni Moore told the media the ball was now in the corporation’s court as the initial agreement to pay the increments had been accepted by the CBC. (AD)
