Prison association head says officers should form their own union following High Court ruling

Prison Chief John Nurse has pledged his full support for members of a restructured prison officers’ representative body after the High Court restored their right to join trade unions.

In the meantime, the head of the Prison Officers’ Association says he intends to meet with the executive on the way forward, although indicating his preference for officers to remain within their “cocoon” and not join other trade unions.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY on Monday, Nurse said he had no concerns with regards to the future administration of the Barbados Prison Service as a result of the written judgement released last Friday by Justice Cecil McCarthy, who struck down as “unconstitutional” Sections 23 and 24 of the Prison Amendment Act 1982.

Justice McCarthy ruled that the “substantial intent” of the amended Act was to significantly restrict prison officers’ freedom of association enshrined in Section 21 (1) of the Constitution.

The contentious law, enacted some 40 years ago, made it unlawful for prison officers to join, associate with, or to benefit financially from trade unions. It also prevented the Prison Officers’ Association from representing prison officers on issues relating to conditions of service and impacted their ability to bargain collectively.

Superintendent Nurse, who had been at the centre of lawsuits and labour disputes involving some members of the association, said the key to the prison service functioning is working together for the common good.

“We just function…. There are many things that we have to do and it is all about working together to get to the aim and the function that the organisation has set for itself. So, there is no issue there as far as I am aware,” Nurse said.

Trevor Browne, who maintains he is still president of the Prison Officers’ Association despite being suspended from duty, disclosed his intention to meet with the association’s executive shortly to chart the way forward, as a result of the court decision.

Browne will be proposing to the executive that the officers form their own union.

“I hope that at some point in time to meet with the staff because I am of the view that we should have our little union of our own, stay within our little cocoon, and work with the administration. I don’t think that at this point in time that the staff should run away and go and be affiliated with no other union. Because of how the prison is structured and national security considerations, there are things that happen in the institution that I don’t believe should come out in public,” he said.

“I must concede that at times I put things in the public domain for the betterment of the organisation. But now that we have reached a point where we have our rights restored, I don’t think anybody should get hot and sweaty and run to a union. We should stay in our little world and work things out.”

Browne added that the officers should form a union and work with the Personnel Administration Department, Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry.

“The main thing is for them to sit with us and deal with our concerns,” he said.

“I do believe that at some point in time, whether I walk through those [prison] gates again or not, I am going to have a conversation with Mr Wilfred Abrahams, whether it is formal or informal, because I do believe that at the end of the day this is Barbados, our country. People will have differences but because of national security and things that happen in prison, that should remain in the institution; we should work with Government for the [betterment] of staff,” added Browne who was cleared by a magistrate, in October last year, of sedition charges but faces an appeal by the prosecution in the matter.

He also suggested that Minister Abrahams and the prison administrators be given a chance to work out all the issues confronting the prison officers at Dodds.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb