The three candidates contesting the St George North by-election who did not take part in the recently held debate will be staging a joint special event at St George Secondary School this evening.
The meeting, entitled State of the Union: The Union Speaks, will feature Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate Floyd Reifer, Ambrose Grosvenor of the United Progressive Party and David Walrond of the People’s Party for Democracy and Development.
All three declined the invitation to be part of the October 29 debate at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in which Toni Moore of the Barbados Labour Party, Solutions Barbados’ Grenville Phillips and Alex Mitchell of the Bajan Free Party shared their party’s views on several key issues.
The Union Speaks will also feature some retired trade unionists. These include former head of the Police Association Hartley Reid, former general secretary and president of the Barbados Union of Teachers Undene Whittaker, former National Union of Public Workers president Walter Maloney, former deputy general secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Robert “Bobby” Morris and DLP member Dr Derek Alleyne.
No agenda was announced, but the spotlight will no doubt be shone on BWU general secretary Moore. Last Sunday during the DLP meeting at Flat Rock, Morris asked about the state of the BWU in these times and announced the Labour College at Mangrove, St Philip, was closed. He called on Moore to tell the people of Barbados the plans for the BWU over the next few years and asked her to speak on the state of the NIS Fund, the Unemployment Fund and the Severance Fund.
Members of the public are invited to attend the event which starts at 7 p.m. in the school hall. (SAT)
