The executive council of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) is in agreement with the National Union of Public Workers’ (NUPW) that public servants deserve better, says general secretary Toni Moore.
But while members of the NUPW continue industrial action for a second day, the BWU will not be following suit at this time.
The NUPW had given the Ministry of the Civil Service and Government a January 15 deadline to respond to their proposal of a 23 per cent wage increase for public workers, the first in almost a decade.
Since there had been no response, president Akanni McDowall said yesterday and today would be days of “protest and resistance”.
Moore said the BWU’s interest with the Ministry of the Civil Service was different. (RA)
Below the full text of the statement from the BWU.
The executive council of the Barbados Workers’ Union has been constrained to offer comment regarding the situation with the National Union of Public Workers and the Government of Barbados over Government negotiations.
However, the executive council will not wish for our silence to be regarded as being anti-pathetic or unsympathetic to the cause of the NUPW, nor will we want to be aligned to any alternative views or motives that are being brandished within other circles.
The BWU agrees with the NUPW’s statement that public servants deserve better. And of course that better continues to shift as the pressures of increased taxes and the cost of living is felt more with each passing month.
Reports are that the NUPW received a mandate from its members on December 27 [2017] to conclude negotiations by January 15 this year. The BWU has had no such mandate. We have been negotiating separately from the NUPW for a revised collective agreement for public servants. Since June 23 last year, we gave way for the Ministry of the Civil Service to negotiate for the National Union of Public Workers toward having their terms and conditions settled until the Ministry of the Civil Service received a mandate to discuss money.
The reasons for this were simple; the BWU has only money and appointments on the table. The National Union of Public Workers had several other proposals that were up for discussion. The Barbados Workers’ Union has written to the Ministry of the Civil Service to advance negotiations on those two outstanding issues.
Some progress has been made regarding the issue of appointments, but it has been too slow and of course there is the need for an adjustment in wages and salaries. The public should be aware that the Barbados Workers’ Union has never stopped insisting on an actual increase in wages and salaries, rather than on any token lump sum payment for it is our view that a lump sum payment would give workers instant gratification for a weekend, and return them to the same position in the following water.
The Barbados Workers’ Union understood from our meeting in June last year with the Prime Minister that by October 2017 Government would have been in a position to make a wages and salaries offer based on revenue intake from the National Social Responsibility Levy for the three-month period July to September.
The BWU recognises that even where a modest increase is applied to wages and salaries, it would apply week-on-week or month-on-month, and thus contribute to our national economic activity and of course it will be of lasting value to all public servants and will improve their pensions.
The private sector will also benefit from this economic stimulation and from the Government’s action in steering the course toward greater economic activity. The Barbados Workers’ Union wishes today to repeat its call to the minister responsible for the civil service to empower his technocrats to meet and urgently treat with our union regarding a meaningful wage and salary increase.