The security firm at the centre of industrial action that prompted Government to move on introducing a national minimum wage, is hailing the development.
On Thursday night, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley announced an end to the G4S Secure Solutions Barbados and Barbados Workers’ Union standoff that looked set to go into a national strike. The workers were protesting unequal pay for two categories of workers carrying out the same duties; back pay and a pay increase.
In the end, the workers settled for the equal pay and were praised by the Government, union and G4S for sacrificing their back pay for the larger good of progress towards a national minimum wage.
“In 2009, we made a formal, written request to the then administration asking that a minimum wage be introduced,” G4S said in a statement yesterday.
“Despite the fact that our request was not acted upon, we nonetheless continued to offer remuneration packages that were far superior to that of our competitors. We are and will always be committed to negotiating in good faith and honouring the laws of all territories in which we operate.”
The company said it was pleased to have worked with Government and BWU to reach “an amicable resolution to the industrial relations situation, and to help secure a significant win for workers in our industry, and several other categories of workers across Barbados who now stand to benefit from the introduction of a minimum wage”.
It thanked the Prime Minister for the tremendous effort “she made in bringing a resolution to this matter” as well as the leadership of the BWU “for collaborating with us in this matter”. (PR/AC)
