Former NUPW boss warns things could get ugly in war of words between PM and UWU leader

A retired veteran trade unionist is calling for cool heads to prevail in the battle between the Mia Mottley administration and the Unity Workers’ Union (UWU) to avoid a “disastrous outcome” for the country’s embattled frontline nurses.

Former General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), Roslyn Smith declared that a decision to dock the pay of dozens of striking workers was the wrong approach to dealing with workers who are “burnt out” by the pandemic and frustrated that their longstanding concerns are seemingly falling on deaf ears.

However, Smith, who sat in the union’s top seat from 2015 to 2019, has also called on UWU General Secretary, Senator Caswell Franklyn to sit down with the leader of the country, acknowledging that many of the outstanding issues cannot be resolved immediately.

“We are putting the health sector on a path where things could get ugly and I think it is best to really sit down and really have serious dialogue whereby the issues can be brought forward,’’ she told Barbados TODAY.

“Call in the parties again, sit down and put a human touch to it, because if you do not it can turn ugly. It does not make sense at this time to be levelling threats and withholding pay. There is no need to add fuel to fire.”

Approximately two weeks have passed since the nurses began withdrawing their services, significantly hampering the country’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

According to Senator Franklyn, the issues include numerous longstanding grievances that came to a head with the government’s failed attempt at implementing safe zones.

On Wednesday, however, Prime Minister Mia Mottley expressed the Government’s intention to dock the striking nurses’ pay, slamming the union boss in the process. The public tit-for-tats persisted into the weekend with the ruling Barbados Labour Party and four workers’ organisations in opposition to positions of UWU, Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley and two other opposition parties.

But Smith, who had served the union since 1972, distinguishing herself as a fighter for nurses’ rights, was adamant that with the livelihoods of dozens at stake now is not the time for apportioning blame.

“The nurses are burnt out and, obviously, there are many issues that were submitted by the nurses that have not been looked at and they are only human. So you shouldn’t be putting more stress on the frontline workers, and I think common sense, patience and trust must prevail. I know if not handled in the right way, we could have a very disastrous situation within the health sector and it would not be in the interest of the Government, the Ministry or the workers,” warned the former union leader.

“There have been longstanding issues that the Government has been playing around with for quite a little while. But, at the same time, there is not an immediate fix to all of the issues and therefore common sense will have to prevail where there should be more intense dialogue from the Ministry’s side.

“So getting to that point where you are going to say ‘this body is right and this body is wrong’ without looking for solutions to the problem, that is a very slippery slope,” she reiterated.

Smith rejected the notion that the Prime Minister should not be a part of the negotiating process, explaining that when disputes reach an advanced stage, such options should be on the table.

“At the level where the nurses have their concerns, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, the permanent secretary, the union and the workers must sit down if they don’t want things to escalate out of hand,” she added.

Under the Owen Arthur administration, Smith was instrumental in fighting for salary upgrades, the provision of uniforms, and proposing the post of nurse practitioner, which saw more than 60 untrained nursing assistants qualified to better complement staff nurses. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb