The Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) continues to express concerns about employers increasingly using temporary contracts for jobs that are clearly ongoing, arguing that such practices undermine workers’ entitlements.
General secretary Toni Moore raised the issue at the opening of the union’s Safety 360 Conference yesterday, at its headquarters, Solidarity House, Harmony Hall, St Michael. She said contract workers often felt excluded from protections guaranteed under occupational health and safety laws.
“Health and safety does not differentiate between whether a worker is on contract or permanent. Health and safety laws are for all workers. I think that what happens is that oftentimes workers, because they feel a certain measure of insecurity, they feel that coverage is not available to them,” she stated.
“In too many instances workers are being brought into short-term situations where it is known and understood that functions are needed in an ongoing way. It is also our preoccupation because too often it is being used to circumvent obligations on the social security and legal benefits that permanent workers are entitled to.”
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