Trade union boss defends charging commission for winning disputes at Severance Payment Tribunal

Prime Minister Mia Mottley and General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Senator Toni Moore have been chided for what General Secretary of the Unity Workers’ Union (UWU) Senator Caswell Franklyn says is an apparent attempt to “fool” Barbadians about his practices and that of his organisation.

However, the veteran trade unionist says he has accepted recent “attacks” as the price he must pay for exposing the shortcomings of the current administration, and insisted he had not done anything that contravenes the law.

During a press conference over the weekend, Mottley made reference to a union leader who has been charging clients a percentage of the settlement from claims brought before the Severance Payment Tribunal.

In fact, she accused the trade unionist in question of attempting to perform the services of a lawyer by charging commissions in exchange for representation.

“On what basis are workers being asked to pay a percentage of their severance to an agent for getting it to them when it is as simple as coming to the Severance Payments Tribunal and the NIS [National Insurance Scheme]?” the PM asked.

“I want us to recognise that there are consequences for allowing people to proffer legal opinions and to proffer opinions to workers as if they are lawyers or establishments, and in proffering them, they are not even supported on a platform of facts and truth.”

Mottley was at the time scolding media workers for continuing to report alternative interpretations of sunset legislation passed earlier this year, and its potential implications for laid off workers who are duly entitled to severance.

Her sentiments were in sync with those of the BWU boss who accused “other people” in the trade union movement of proposing severance pay as an answer to ongoing industrial relations issues.

“First of all, let me state that the Barbados Workers’ Union does not exact any 10 per cent from people when we successfully file a claim that sees them awarded with severance,” Moore said.

Although he was not named, Franklyn took to VOB’s Down to Brass Tacks call-in programme to explain that UWU members were not charged for representation in any industrial relations forum.

However, the Opposition Senator acknowledged that a ten per cent commission was attached to settlements reached on behalf of non-members who sought his expertise as an industrial relations consultant. This, he said, is consistent with the provisions of employment rights legislation.

“I am not going to get into the gutter with them because they would have the home ground advantage and I am not going down there with them,” declared Franklyn.

“Any member of my union who comes to me for representation pays their union dues and I have several instances where people get thousands of dollars in settlements and I don’t take a cent from them because there are members of the union…. So don’t let anybody fool you or mislead you.

“I don’t go out there and solicit work. Sometimes people go to lawyers and they send them to me. Those people would have gone to the lawyers intending to pay the lawyers and when they come to me, I am supposed to tell them that I will work for them for free?” he asked.

The UWU boss charged that the claims made by the Prime Minister and her colleague in the House of Assembly were usually reserved for when he “shows them up” by informing them about the law.

“I don’t want to lead any demonstrations, I want the money for these people. So, fix the problem because it is a problem that you created. [Ms Mottley] is saying that she will fix it, but she first has to take time out to curse me,” said Franklyn.

“So when the Government is telling the people and the Press not to listen to me, it is because they don’t want me to talk. But they listen to [Ms Mottley] and she misleads them all the time.

“I am not boasting or anything but, so far, I have not lost a single case before the ERT [Employment Rights Tribunal] yet. That might happen, but the Barbados Workers’ Union has lost every case it has brought to the tribunal so far,” the trade unionist argued.
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)