NUPW on prison drive

The island’s largest public sector trade union is going after prison officers to join its ranks.

The move by the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) follows the recent collapse of the near six-decade-old Prison Officers’ Association of Barbados.

Several months ago, the prison warders started signing up for membership in the Unity Trade Union (UTU) led by the association’s advisor Caswell Franklyn. That was triggered by a landmark High Court ruling in April this year that erased legislative amendments made 40 years ago which restricted prison officers from joining trade unions.

And on Thursday, General Secretary of the NUPW Richard Greene disclosed that nearly half a dozen prison officers had signed up for membership in his union as well. However, he admitted that the NUPW was on a drive to recruit additional public officers to its membership, including prison warders.

“We are talking to public officers about all of the other things that we offer too…medical insurance, discounts, education and training, foreign language training and so on. We expect some to join. We are going after all public officers…you have to reach out to people,” the union leader told Barbados TODAY.

“We are doing some courses with the Venezuelan Institute in Spanish. We work with Jeff Broomes [retired school principal] doing classes for children of members of the union, practising for Common Entrance Exams. We are also doing webinars with public servants on the Employment Rights Act, the Public Service Act, pensions and so on,” the general secretary said.

When contacted, an optimistic former president of the Prison Officers’ Association Trevor Browne appeared unwilling to give up on the organisation just yet, even while acknowledging its demise. Browne believes brighter days may still be ahead.

New Superintendent of Prisons DeCarlo Payne declined to comment on the way forward for the association at this stage. (EJ)