The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Government is taking the trade union movement to task for blurring its efforts to protect the rights of workers.
Minister of Industry Donville Inniss argued Government was so invested in the rights of all workers in Barbados that annually it injects “hundreds of thousands of dollars” of subvention to the Barbados Workers’ Union and the National Union of Public Workers, preserving the proverbial voice of workers.
“It is not a BLP [Barbados Labour Party] or DLP thing, historically the union has been given a subvention by Government. My point about it is here is a union that is saying the country is so broke, doing nothing, putting all sort of demands on Government but don’t remind their members or the public about the hefty subvention they get from Government on an annual basis to keep them running. As far as I am concerned they should be getting more of their revenue from their own members and their own activities,” Inniss said.
During a fiery contribution at the DLP’s joint northern meeting on Sunday night, Inniss, who is also Minister of International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, cried shame on the state of the present movement. Speaking to a large crowd at Alexandra School, Queen Street, St Peter, including Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and former St Peter candidate Sybil Leacock, he voiced concern that for many union leaders their first priority was now self-motivated.
Inniss said some had been promised diplomatic posts abroad and could not wait to see the back of the DLP. He accused some in the movement of practising political partisanship, and this was shown in the lack of support for the Employment Rights Act, the Sexual Harassment Act and the Employment Rights Tribunal, which were put in place to protect workers.
“Rather than say let us recognise that you have a Government that is bringing enlightened policies and programmes to uplift the masses in society, you have these folks finding every reason to go after the Government in a very aggressive and partisan manner and hiding behind the guise of the union,” Inniss said. (SDB Media)
