Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers Delcia Burke says she is deeply concerned by the level of exploitation that some workers in the private sector are currently facing.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Burke made reference to a St George-based nursing home where she said that “none of the workers has been paid in the last three months” and they have no word on when their next pay cheque would be. Burke contended that the workers were essentially being treated as “modern-day slaves” as some were even forced to keep their children home from school because they simply did not have the money to send them. She also complained the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) payments were being deducted but none had been paid in to the state-run social security safety net.
“Those workers have some very serious concerns. Their manager is telling me that the workers would have to wait until November 6 to see if they can get paid and this is after not getting money for three months. In addition, they have been deducting monies from these workers for NIS and not paying it in,” said Burke.
She explained that while her union does not represent these workers, who number about 24, she made an attempt to negotiate with the owner on behalf of the workers, but got the sense that there was no urgency on the part of the owner to have the matter rectified
“Since August none of the workers has been paid, not one, and these salaries are not even large salaries. The owner invited me up there and [the owner] wanted to meet me without the workers and when I refused, I was told to leave the place. Some of the workers are saying that they want to be severed.
Barbados TODAY visited the facility this afternoon to attempt to speak with the owners but was unsuccessful. Several telephone calls were also made to the elderly care facility and messages were left, but no calls were returned.
However, the consensus among several of the workers, who would only speak to Barbados TODAY on condition of anonymity, was that they were being taken advantage of because the owners seemed to think that they had no options.
“Right now, none of us in any union and they know that with the little bit of money that they paying us, none of us can afford to pay a lawyer to deal with our matter. So that is why they could afford to tell us that they would pay us whenever they get money,” said one worker.
“It is just a shame how they treat human beings. They don’t care if we can eat or send our children to school. All [they] care about is that we get to work however we can and do the laundry and whatever is needed for the patients. This cannot be fair,” another worker said.
Barbados TODAY understands that the average salary at the nursing home is around $600 per month while those in supervisory positions receive $1,200 per month. Meanwhile each patient at the facility is charged $2600 per month. Burke contended that this was just one more example of why Government needs to implement minimum wages across the board.
“Right now, the minimum wage only applies to shop attendants. So, these workers are being paid less than if they were working in a supermarket or gas station. These are caregivers that are being treated this way but are expected to be in the frame of mind to administer proper care to people’s loved ones. These are things which need to be looked into as a matter of urgency because this could be problematic down the road,” she stressed.
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb
