The Minister of Agriculture has served notice he will be probing why pay talks in the sugar industry ended up “prematurely” before the Labour Department as he seeks to stave off a potential disruption to the start of this year’s crop.
Minister Indar Weir said on Friday he was surprised to learn in the news media that the discussions between the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) and the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) had been referred to the Labour Department.
He expressed shock at the news because there had been an understanding between the parties based on a request by him that whenever the BWU as well as the private farmers represented by the Barbados Sugar Industry Limited (BSIL) could not reach an agreement, they should come to him first, before involving the Labour Department.
“My relationship with the BWU and with Dwaine Paul was that if they [his union] couldn’t reach an amicable conclusion with the BAMC in any negotiations, that he [Paul] should come to me, which was a request I had made as recently as during last year’s crop negotiations,” Weir told Barbados TODAY.
“I will have always told the BAMC if they couldn’t reach an amicable conclusion with the unions, the matter should be kicked up to me so that I can get it settled. We have been able to do this over the past three years. I don’t think that this year would be any different,” he said.
“I am prepared to meet with the unions. I have taken a verbal brief from the CEO of the BAMC…then we will sit down with the unions and make sure we bring all of this to closure. For me, it is not something that cannot be done. But I do understand that in this climate, everyone wants to claim his space and I respectfully understand. But I don’t think these are matters we can’t agree on,” the Minister assured.
Weir told Barbados TODAY, he will leave no stone unturned to try to bring about a speedy resolution to the impasse with the BWU.
“I am prepared to do all that I have done in the past. It is not the first time…we brought all parties to the table. I listened to them and then we came to an agreement on matters that we understood clearly that we could reach an amicable conclusion on, and this has been the case for the past few years,” he recalled.
Weir complained that every time the crop is about to start, these matters “flare-up”.
“The fact that you see these matters are flaring-up once it is announced that the crop is about to start, then you clearly recognise that there is more to these matters than what is really in the public’s eye,” the minister declared.
“If the BAMC has been negotiating with the unions and they have not been able to meet the unions’ expectations, then the matters should really be brought to me so that I could bring the unions to the bargaining table instead of going straight to the Labour Department,” Weir reiterated.
He also promised to have a frank conversation regarding an issue raised with him by the Sugar Industry Staff Association (SISA) which represents the monthly-paid staff such as foremen, supervisors and middle managers.
President of SISA Dwight Miller said the two most contentious matters they had put before the minister was the payment for working with cowitch in the field and overtime remuneration.
The minister said because he has not met with SISA as yet, he was not at liberty to say what that frank conversation would be like.
However, he disclosed that the management of cowitch was one of the things his ministry was seeking to improve in the sugar industry.
“In order for us to manage cowitch effectively, it has to be taken care of at the farm level, where there must be a programme put in place to make sure that we can eradicate it,” Weir said, stressing that every farm must do the heavy-lifting and ensure it is addressed by those from the top to bottom.
Weir is projecting a mid-February start to the crop, but could not at this stage, provide any data on the production forecast.
In the meantime, he revealed that the lone sugar factory, Portvale was in the process of being upgraded to coincide with the start of the harvest.
“We are doing some improvements at Portvalae Factory to bring it in line with a more efficient type of factory rather than have the amount of downtime that we had over the past years,” he announced.
“We are trying to work with a team to make sure we get pieces of equipment installed and by the end of this month or early February, do steam trials and be ready for February 14,” the minister revealed.
He said the installation of boilers will form a big part of the improvements.
“We are also looking at how we can then move to renewable energy as well. Eventually, we will have a factory that has been retrofitted to improve the amount of kilowatt-hour that can be produced,” Weir added.
Meanwhile, SISA’s Miller said his organisation is also in negotiation with the BAMC on the issue of cowitch and overtime pay for the month-paid industry staff.
However, he has expressed the hope that his association does not have to end up before the Labour Department on the matter.
“SISA continues to negotiate in good faith with the BAMC management towards a resolution,” Miller said.
“This comes from a background, where our membership was not paid in the 2021 crop for working in cowitch-infected areas when other members of staff from the BWU were paid for working in similar work areas,” the association leader lamented.
“SISA views this action as discriminatory and hopes the negotiations result in an amicable agreement as the membership of SISA has given the council a clear mandate on these issues, pending the start of the 2022 sugar harvest,” declared Miller.
He is particularly concerned that his members who work overtime have to wait for between three to six months before being paid when the weekly-paid counterparts receive payment almost automatically.
Persistent efforts to reach the BWU’s Deputy General Secretary Dwaine Paul were unsuccessful.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
