Union onboard

Any fears that the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) had about the restructuring of the state-owned Transport Board have been
allayed.

That is the word from the union’s General Secretary Senator Toni Moore, who made the comment at the conclusion of a lengthy meeting between the two entities at the BWU’s Solidarity House headquarters today.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY, Senator Moore said the BWU had previously raised some concerns relating to the viability of the Transport Board.

However, in describing the meeting as “very productive”, she said Minister of Transport Dr William Duguid had addressed those issues.

“There has been a concern that was presented by the union that the restructuring programme was not going in a manner that we felt pointed to the Government’s overarching aim for insuring that the board remained fit for purpose. From our perspective we could not understand the strategic vision or direction that the board was pursuing, so this meeting this morning was to allow for clearer understanding of that direction,” Moore said.

“The Minister of transport was present at the meeting and was able to effectively articulate that vision, but in addition to that we were able to deal with some immediate challenges being experienced by sections of workers within the Board. We anticipate that in the coming weeks we would be able to fully flesh out the concerns towards workable solutions.”

The BWU head said other discussions related to the future plans for the Transport Board had also gone smoothly.

“The BWU had a very productive meeting with the Transport Board this morning. The meeting was to advance discussions on a restructuring plan of the Transport Board, specifically restructuring for
efficiency.

“The public would be aware that for the past few months we have been into a public sector retrenchment programme that has now come to the point where we are discussing impacts at the Transport Board,” Moore said.

Minister Duguid described the meeting as cordial and promised that Government, along with the Transport Board, would work closely with the BWU going forward.

“The meeting with the BWU was to discuss the way forward for the master plan of the Transport Board. The meeting was very, very cordial and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think that all participants learnt something and we are starting to map out progress and a way forward for the Transport Board and collaboration with and in full dialogue with the BWU and the workers’ representatives.

“We have some processes and we have to come back and bring some more information to the table and they will take that information to their workers and then we will be able to chart a way forward. It is a work in progress but we still have some work to be done,” Duguid said.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb