THE NATIONAL UNION of Public Workers’ buying club should become a reality by the first quarter of 2011.
In an interview yesterday, President Walter Maloney said the union had “rectified” some “funding issues” and should be ready to launch following some “retrofitting” and “refurbishment”.
“We have never abandoned the idea, but the issue was always funding. We were hoping to have it open this year but we had issues which have been rectified.?So hopefully by the first quarter of next year, we will get started,” he said, adding the club would be located in Lot 3 of the Newton Industrial Park.
Maloney said he was “85 per cent” certain of an early 2011 start, adding rent would not be a problem since they had been able to “work out a pretty decent deal” with the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation.
He said the union had several setbacks in the past but wished to remind the public its members were public servants who did not have a lot of money to invest. However, he was adamant this was something which had to be done by the civil service.
“With all due respect to the private sector, it is time working class people helped themselves. That is not to say a partnership isn’t possible but for now we need to show we can depend on ourselves,” he said.
Maloney said the current economic atmosphere was conducive to low-cost food as prices “were not going down”.
“Our position has always been to do things for ourselves instead on waiting for the merchants, Government or the private sector to do things for us,” he said.
As for what would be offered, Maloney said the club would initially concentrate on food but would consider including household items later. However, he added that it would not cater to anyone’s “particular fancies” and would only offer basic necessities.
The buying club was originally proposed in August 2008 in response to the increasing cost of goods. At that time, Maloney had said the union needed $600 000 in start-up fees so it intended to sell shares to members at $120 each to obtain the funds, “hopefully by the end of September”.
Maloney had also produced a list of 124 items which he said the union was looking to stock from “any place where we can get quality goods at a reasonable price”.
The club expected to employ about ten people.
(CA)
