Unease continues at security firm

Government’s ‘failure’ to hold G4S Secure Solutions fully accountable during last year’s ‘back pay’ dispute is believed to have emboldened the company’s managers to continue trampling on the rights of their employees.

This is the view of the company’s Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) delegate Ormond Mayers, who claimed that workers are being “forced” on vacation leave, having their working hours slashed, and being laid off without notice.

Mayers revealed that during a meeting last year, numerous high-level trade union and Government officials forfeited thousands owed to longstanding employees when the company threatened to pull its operations here.

“I believe that last year when we had the labour dispute, one of the reasons why we are not getting our back-money is because the company told the Prime Minister that if they paid the back money they would have to leave Barbados. So they used that as a ransom and now feel they can get over the law and do as they like, because the government doesn’t want them to leave,” Mayers contended.

“That is the message that they got and that strengthened them. They feel that they are so much in demand in Barbados, that they can do anything from here onwards. I think that was one of the biggest mistakes the government made,” the union representative added.

He complained that even with this year’s minimum wage increase, the back payments were still rightfully owed to them.

Making matters worse is that since the increase, working hours continue to be reduced to the point that their weekly take-home pay has been reduced.

“Right now it is a struggle. They are cutting people’s hours every week. Sometimes they remove people from the roster without even giving notice or proper direction. So this is something I’ve been fighting with every day and I have told them that they have to pay the workers, because if these people are kept away for four or five days without a medical certificate, they will be without a job.

“From the time that the $9.25 minimum wage came into existence, they started cutting people’s hours left and right, so it does not matter how long you were working in the company, they are cutting your hours. What I see them doing now is laying off people, bringing them back and sending off people that are on,” the representative added.

According to Mayers, workers are also being forced to take vacation despite previous warnings to employers from Labour Minister Colin Jordan. He explained that traditionally, security officers would apply for vacation in October for the following year and plan based on management’s approval. However, they have since resorted to calling workers at short notice, demanding that they take their vacation, claiming certain provisions within the Holidays with Pay Act.

In some cases, workers only found out that they were on vacation when they checked their bank accounts on payday and realised their vacation money had been added.

“In other words, they are abusing the law and using it to justify their actions, which is wrong. The monthly people can select their vacation when they want, but the weekly people also have a life to live. They have their plans, so people take their vacation based on the plans that they have,” Mayers declared.

“One person has to go overseas in August, and for 13 years she was in the company and would always go on vacation in August. It was never an issue, but they have called her up, telling her about having to take a vacation.

“Another man went to the bank and only realised he was on vacation when he saw the extra funds, and when he inquired, he was on vacation,” the frustrated union representative added.

Furthermore, Mayers claims that contrary to legislation, others have endured arbitrary reductions to their vacation time.

During a meeting with a company official, Mayers said he was informed that the forced vacations were part of a “rotating layoffs” system to make room for previously laid-off people.

“So I asked her, ‘When these people come back from vacation after three or four weeks, what are you going to do? Are you going to lay off those people again?’

“I don’t understand that, and the thing about it is that these are long-standing members of staff being affected. I could understand you doing this to people who have a year or two years in the company and rotate among them, but how could you do this to the people who were in the company for years, who built and sustained this company over the years?” asked Mayers.

Other concerns among the G4S workers are apparent lapses in COVID-19 protocols in the company vehicles and the lack of liability insurance in the event a worker is injured whilst onboard.

Barbados TODAY has been unable to reach G4S country manager James Devers who operates out of Trinidad and Tobago and efforts to reach Minister Jordan on the matter have been unsuccessful.