Barbados must stop allowing claims of labour shortages to become a cover for importing cheap labour and tighten scrutiny of work permits before foreign workers are brought into the country, Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) general secretary Toni Moore has warned.
At the union’s 84th Annual Delegates Conference yesterday at Solidarity House, Harmony Hall, St Michael, Moore highlighted what she described as the “subpar conditions” faced by migrant workers, including workers recruited from countries where wages are significantly lower than those in Barbados.
Jada Group was under the microscope after the BWU’s recent intervention showed videos of migrant workers detailing the unsuitable conditions under which they were living and working.
“We examined the evidence, we placed it before the Social Partnership meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Labour. The meeting was ended abruptly as they, along with public health officials, joined the BWU at that work site,” Moore said.
She added that the intervention resulted in alternative accommodation being ordered, while facilities were cleaned, renovated and re-equipped.
“Barrack licences that were never sought had to be issued. Passports returned to workers,” she said.
Inter-agency investigations were also launched and there was a suspension on the awarding of further public contracts pending investigation, with Moore saying the matter could ultimately result in prosecution.
“Let me say, therefore, without hesitation, that immigration status does not make a worker less human.
“Migrant status cannot be used to reduce dignity. Migrant status cannot erase protection. It cannot give permission for exploitation.
“Do not hire these people and suppress them and contain them in a form of modern-day slavery.”
Addressing claims of labour shortages, particularly in construction, hospitality and retail, Moore said the union was concerned that “the talk is running ahead of the evidence”.
She said while the BWU accepted that genuine shortages existed, it questioned whether the evidence always supported the scale of foreign recruitment.
Before a work permit is granted, she said authorities must ask fundamental questions.
“Where was the vacancy advertised? What wage was being offered? Was the job register that was set up at the Ministry of Labour checked? What skill is missing that Barbadians don’t have that they’re going to require? What effort has been made to recruit Barbadians?”
Moore said another question must also be asked: “Is the skill unavailable, or is someone simply looking for cheap labour that will upset less, question less and be exploited more?”
She pointed to wage disparities driving the trend, noting that workers recruited from the Philippines, India and Colombia often earned a fraction of Barbadian wages.
“The position that the Barbados Workers’ Union has always maintained is that where specialised labour is genuinely unavailable, bring workers at all costs but pay them fairly, host them decently and train Barbadian workers alongside them so that the gap won’t continue to exist.
“So yes, bring the skill, bring the investment but do not bring exploitation to our shores. Do not cheapen our labour market. We are better than that.”
Moore also revisited a string of recent labour victories she said illustrated the BWU’s continued relevance. Chief among them was the case of security guards at G4S, where a six-year pay disparity – $7.42 an hour against $8.79 for the same job – was eventually resolved after workers finally stood up. The lower rate has since climbed to $11.66, a rise Moore said helped push the national minimum wage from $8.50 to its current $10.71.
“One group of workers, therefore, lit a fire that raised the wage floor for an entire country,” she said.
Moore also mentioned the BWU’s confrontation with KFC, where workers at one branch walked off the job on June 30, 2023, over working conditions. They had complained about excessive heat, foul smells, insects and other problems.
“Workers walked out, stood up and held the line against poor working conditions.”
The BWU stayed with the workers through an overnight meeting lasting more than 12 hours, and by the following morning, Moore said, prohibition notices had been issued and remedial work had started.
The eventual agreement produced a nine per cent wage increase, a guaranteed 40-hour week and changes to training and probation.
“That is what the rhythm of resilience sounds like. That is what dignity sounds like when workers refuse to suffer in silence and to swallow disrespect.”
Moore also revealed that the union had been locked in discussions with the Labour Department over outstanding payments owed to former Berger Paints workers.
“As recently as yesterday [Friday], we had what would hopefully be our final meeting at the Labour Department to finalise the payment of all outstanding monies owed to the former workers of Berger Paints.”
She said the matter should be settled by September 11.
The dispute, she noted, had required Labour Department validation of earnings schedules and payroll systems before the outstanding money could be resolved. But Moore said workers remained firm and trusted the union to secure an outcome.
“Final payments will include retroactive wage settlement and incentive pay that had been a subject of dispute for some three years.”
Moore argued that workers must not forget how many of their current protections were won.
Paid holidays, maternity protection, National Insurance, unemployment protection, severance, occupational safety and health and the national minimum wage, she said, were not simply gifts handed down by governments.
“They were demanded. They were negotiated. They were marched for. They were argued for. They were sometimes resisted.”
Moore warned that the next generation of workers faced a new set of battles.
“The fight is now against the casualisation of permanent work. The fight is now for a wage that is not barely about survival. The fight is now for gig workers and platform workers who must not become a new generation without rights.” (DDS/NS)