WORKER SOLIDARITY is something displayed amongst trade unions worldwide especially as a tactic to get their desired outcomes. It was a method to which many employers easily crumbled in the past. Today, that approach will be challenged by emphatic employers.
So when trade unions call out workers, they must be prepared for all the consequences, as is the case with those of the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA). The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) should have made clear upfront to these workers of the likely fallout if they took industrial action. After all, the dispute was not one which directly involved the SSA workers but merely sought to use them to strengthen the union’s hand in their fight against the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation.
No one can question a unionised employee’s right to take industrial action, but it should also be understood that by so doing, the employee could end up breaking his employment contract. In such circumstances the employee is unlikely to be paid for the work not done during the industrial action. This was exactly the case for many teachers during the national strike called by trade unions in 1991.
This situation facing SSA workers behoves trade unions to ensure they have well-funded welfare schemes to help members who walk off their jobs. They must be aware that at the end of the action, the workers still expect to have a pay package.
That is why the arguments being advanced by the NUPW’s acting general secretary, Roslyn Smith, about the validity of the SSA’s decision to withhold pay from those who did not report for and carry out their duties will be considered controversial by some. The union, by all its pronouncements during the recent strike action, made it clear that it had called out the workers to support its cause. And they responded readily.
The results of their actions are clear for all to see. Barbados is an eyesore with garbage piled up all over the place and residents are bracing for what seems to be the onset of a rat infestation. An already bad garbage collection situation was only made worse.
There is no doubt the SSA workers are generally willing to undertake their tasks but are hampered by many challenges, including the unavailability of an adequate number of trucks. Theirs is a job which can truly be described as a labour of love. But, before simply showing blind support for their union, it is now clear, admittedly in hindsight, that they must be armed with all the details and demand certain guarantees before taking action.
Having put themselves out financially to defend a cause, it is only reasonable that the NUPW steps in and gives these workers the help they need. The union has little choice but to ensure they get some sort of payment.