Trade unions are not concerned about the workers. Rather, the leadership is focused on luxury vehicles and promises from within the Barbados Labour Party, charged Donville Inniss last night as he lambasted the Barbados Workers’ Union and the National Union of Public Workers.
“They are not interested in the workers. I served as shop steward . . . in the National Union of Public Workers and we had men and women of strong calibre and character who may have their personal political views but they never allowed that to determine what was in the best interest of the workers.”
“And I say to anybody without contradiction whatsoever, that the leadership of the Barbados Workers Union and the NUPW are steep in the body politics of the Barbados Labour Party and are not interested in the workers. And I will not back down from that,” he told a joint St James meeting at Thorpes Main Road, St James.
The candidate for St James South said that for a long time prior to the general election period, the unions had been promised things from the Barbados Labour Party.
“And that is why they refused to cooperate with the Democratic Labour Party administration. I’ve looked them in the eye and said you are a wicked bunch who do not care about the workers in this country,” he said.
Inniss said a lot of effort went into choosing the luxury vehicle Toni Moore, the general secretary of the BWU, drives. So too with the NUPW.
“I just want to send a message to them that whenever and wherever they go in this country cursing the Democratic Labour Party and myself, expect to hear a response. I don’t care who they sleep with, what they eat, that is none of my business but when you step into the public space and you want to attack based on our policies I will defend this party that I have been a member of since 1985,” he said.
The candidate and Minister of Industry, Commerce and International Business said the DLP had provided opportunities for the young in the area some of which took them abroad.
In addition, Inniss said that while the Barbados Labour Party made housing unit tenants buy the units the DLP gave them to them after 20 years, affecting 223 families in the Haynesville area. That had empowered several persons across the island.
Inniss pointed to road and other projects in the area conceding that not everything had been achieved.
He described the BLP’s manifesto as having promises that would wreck the economy while the DLP offered the greatest ray of hope for diversifying it. He hailed the party’s health initiatives, its renewable energy policy and mental health proposals. (AC)
