The following is the New Year’s message from Edwin O’Neal president of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB).
Today, as Barbadians welcome the year 2019, the labour movement is conscious that many greet it with some trepidation, as a cloud of uncertainty looms with regard to what it will bring. This follows on the many challenges 2018 presented for labour; culminating with hundreds of the Barbadian workforce being placed on the breadline.
At the dawn of 2019, there is the hope that the country’s economic fortunes will turn around but the reality remains that workers in both the public and private sectors who are employment, will recommence work under the fear of being a casualty of the ongoing retrenchment programme.
This is a serious development which has to be carefully managed and executed in the interest of ensuring that the country remains productive and competitive, and not find itself with a declining gross domestic product (GDP), rising incidence of poverty through unemployment, underemployment and social decay, where there is heightened illegal activities, prostitution, crime and violence.
At this time in our development, the country ought to be moving towards giving our young people hope. While the need for a leaner public service is understood, it is recommended that government moves to explore options that can help to drive a more productive public service. Having embarked on a mass retrenchment programme, government ought to balance this against the responsibility it has to the nation to facilitate the creation of employment.
It is now well known that CTUSAB has been echoing the points that growth is important to the development of this island’s economy, and that there is the need to protect jobs. With the latter in mind, CTUSAB posits that as an alternative to engaging a retrenchment programme, an effective workforce rationalisation plan must be built on accurate and relevant information and must consider the full range of rationalisation alternatives, beyond that of a focus placed on dismissals.
CTUSAB calls on the government of the day to respect the role of trade unions and recommit to return to the process of collective bargaining. It is our firm view that by doing so would be to return to the first principles of Industrial Relations, observing cooperation and mutual respect, as the way towards arriving at and implementing a labour management agreement.
CTUSAB contends that there are alternative arrangements which can be considered as a means of preserving jobs while looking to reduce the workforce other than by involuntary dismissals. Some of these arrangements and measures to be considered include Work rotation among other government departments, General or job category-specific hiring freezes, normal attrition of the workforce as a result of retirements, deaths, or resignations, overtime restrictions, part time employment, job sharing, flexible working hours and reduced working hours.
These are options which can reach the desired result of reducing government’s expenditure, maintaining employment levels and reducing the level of social fallout. CTUSAB reiterates the point that as a first step, the process of discussion and negotiations should be initiated through the process of collective bargaining with the trade unions. As a next step, there should be the process of dialogue and consultation with the members of the social partnership.
Suffice to say, it is for the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados, as the national trade union centre and as bona fide representative of labour within the Social Partnership, to call on government to appropriately treat to it. Government must not appear to be fuelling any perceived divide within the labour movement by seemingly accommodating any individual interest, and therefore is required to act with sensitivity in its dealings with labour.
It has been repeatedly said that no man is an island and it takes two hands to clap. The time is now for the Barbados labour movement to recognise that going forward a divided labour movement will be detrimental to the cause of labour. The absences of solidarity and unity can only further weaken the movement and contribute to the rolling back of the gains which labour has achieved over time.
A united labour force will ensure that labour is respected and not appear to be side-lined or marginalised. At the start of a new year, CTUSAB would expect that it is properly treated to by all stakeholders in government, and that its requests for meetings to engage in consultation and dialogue would be accommodated. It is expected that as a matter of courtesy, acknowledgement of and a response to correspondence directed to government officials, ministries, department heads and agencies would be forthcoming.
CTUSAB remains conscious of the fact that the threats and challenges to the operations of the Barbadian labour movement which emerged in 2018, have not gone off into the sunset. This should inspire the leadership of trade unions and staff associations to be more dynamic, assertive, proactive, and aggressive in the pursuit of ensuring that labour’s agenda is not derailed or compromised.
As labour seeks to reorganise and reenergise itself, it requires that all trade unions and staff associations return to organising and educating workers; for these are the principles and the bedrock for the building and maintaining of a vibrant trade union movement. The message must be clearly sent that labour will not retreat nor surrender.
In spite of the fear and uncertainty, labour must believe in itself, must believe in a better tomorrow and a brighter future. As we usher in 2019, it for us to learn from the mistakes of the past and look towards the future with renewed optimism. This is a good time for all of us to recommit to the first principles of labour. To defend the gains of our forefathers, never retreating, since we are the beneficiaries of the struggles.
Solidarity forever, for the Union makes us strong.
