The state-owned Transport Board has started laying off workers – and the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) was last night readying itself to respond.
It also appeared last night that the matter was headed for the office of Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.
While the BWU threatened late last week to “raise our sword” if workers were sent home and its executive council was meeting in an emergency session on the issue at Solidarity House at sunset yesterday, the board revealed in an official statement published in today’s newspaper that the separation process had indeed started last Friday.
Reached by telephone yesterday evening as he prepared to address a constituency branch meeting of his Democratic Labour Party, Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley confirmed that contingency plans had already been put in place to respond to any strike by the BWU. He promised to elaborate later.
Meanwhile, the DAILY NATION was informed by sources that the retrenchment process started with the termination of the services of workers who had opted for “voluntary separation”.
