IT WAS INDEED GREAT NEWS to hear that the national strike that could have shut down this country was averted on Tuesday evening.
This, in some respects, brings an end to the four-week impasse that stemmed from a decision by the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) to send home a dozen of its workers, ten of whom were 60 years or over and were forced into retirement.
On Tuesday, both the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and the Barbados Workers’ Union announced that these ten workers would be returning to their jobs.
We welcome the news given the clear indication that many Barbadians did not wish to see the protest march, go-slow and downing of tools by Sanitation Service Authority workers escalate into the national shutdown that the two unions threatened. The build-up of garbage all over the country appeared to be enough of a hint of what could happen and sensible Barbadians wanted none of it.
Today we hear that the process of consultation, which each side accused the other of spurning, will now take place between the BIDC and the NUPW and that the matter regarding the legality of the use of the Statutory Boards Pensions Act as justification for the separations will no longer be taken to court for consideration at this time – although that may still occur at a later date.
This latest development must be seen as a win-win for all the parties directly involved, and the country as a whole.
It was Minister of Labour Dr Esther Byer who acknowledged very early that an all-out national strike would have hurt the country as a whole, with dire implications for tourism, health and business. We add the environment to that list as well.
There is no doubt that there would have been serious ramifications had this impasse continued and a national strike been called.
While both unions have declared Tuesday’s concession by the BIDC a victory for all workers in Barbados, they have also not failed to make the point that the impasse allowed them a grand opportunity to demonstrate unity in the trade union movement.
Overall, it is the country that has scored a big win in this whole affair. Democracy is intact, workers’ rights are secured and the process of consultation has been maintained. We are therefore happy that this country can get back to normal.
The timing of the threatened national strike could not have been any worse. At the height of the Crop Over Festival when Barbadians should be putting on their best face and letting their hair down as they welcome thousands to our shores, escalated industrial action could have turned out to be a damper of huge fiscal proportions.
We are relieved that the veracity of the second-hand information Prime Minister Freundel Stuart spoke about – that suggested stepped up industrial action could have included traffic controllers with the aim of “breaking up the Crop Over Festival” by making sure that people who wanted to get into the country for the festival could not – did not have to be tested.
Cooler heads now can work toward bringing about a final settlement.