Proposed plan to put tourism workers back to work – Persaud

The Mia Mottley-led administration is putting together a proposal that would see the Government providing financing for the tourism sector from the international reserves, to help keep thousands of hotel workers employed.

After a lengthy meeting with hotel workers, officials told members of the media late Thursday that they were hoping to start rolling out the plan in another month, once it was approved by Cabinet.

Professor Avinash Persaud, special economic advisor to the Government, is on the team developing the programme. Stating that the Government was fully aware of the challenges facing the sector and its workers, he said the plan being developed was being done through “heavy” consultation with stakeholders.

He said it would be designed to “transform” the sector and “reengage” the workers.

“We are trying to move away from the idea of simply extending unemployment benefits, funding people to stay at home, funding people to do nothing. We don’t want a zombie economy. We want an active economy where people can go back to work.

“We are working on a plan that would give firms a genuine choice – either they go down the severance route or if they wish to re-engage workers, reemploy workers, we will help them do that. So, the plan is around that . . . so that workers will have a choice,” he said.

“Reengagement is really about making sure there is funding there for people to be back at work and earning a decent wage and also using that moment for genuine training and upskilling,” he further explained.

Asked if workers would be getting all or a portion of their salary, Persaud said: “We are still looking at the details of that and what could be afforded, but it is going to be a comprehensive plan getting people back to work…decent work.”

Barbados TODAY understands that a part of the proposal could mean at least a 20 per cent cut in wages for hotel workers who decide not to take severance.

It is also understood that the programme could be initially put in place for a six-month period, and if the sector did not bounce back then, there was a possibility of an extension.

Persaud insisted he was unable to give details of the plan at this stage, but said it was very much focused on reengaging workers and creating “new green investment plans that will transform our sector and move it towards a fully renewable and conserving sector”.

He said while the key component of the plan was to re-engage the workers, there were several priority areas for investment – renewable energy, changing the value chain, greater integration of the agriculture and hotel sectors, water conservation, entertainment and culture, digitization and greater technology use, and settlement of outstanding statutory debt for small hotels.

“We could not do this if we had not built up substantial reserves,” the Government advisor said. “Today, we have 30 weeks of import cover, $2.1 billion and why do you have reserves? You have reserves for once-in-a-hundred-year global pandemic. So, we are going to engage with our reserves to try and find a way of reopening our economy, reengaging our workers.”

Persaud said a part of the idea was to change the island’s tourism product in such a way that the country was less dependent on tourists travelling.

“We are creating a plan in which the tourism actors will be able to re-engage their workforce irrespective of what is happening abroad,” he said, adding that it was difficult to predict if or when the sector would rebound.

“We are going to put the necessary funding, financing and plans in place so our sector can open whether there are tourists or not, so that we can engage workers whether there are tourists are not,” added Persaud, who was unable to say for how long the Government would be willing to provide the financing.

Both the hotel representative and the labour union welcomed the initial idea, saying it was innovative and transformative.

Chairman of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Senator Rudy Grant told reporters that given the challenges, “all of us are in this together and we have to collaborate with one another”.

“I think the programme that the Government has come up with is one that is very innovative, it is one that is very transformative, it is one that allows for there to be an enhancement of the overall visitor experience,” he said.

Adding that the BHTA was “excited” about the initiative, Grant said the association met with its members on Wednesday and they were “very supportive of this programme” and were looking forward to its implementation.

Meanwhile, Deputy General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Dwaine Paul said that, so far, the programme was “a very good start to where we need to be, especially when one considers the alternatives”.

“In a pandemic where choice and options are so limited, we believe strongly that what has been designed is innovative, it is creative and it creates a situation where everybody gets something but not necessarily what everybody wanted,” he said.

Paul added that he hoped the plan, or a similar one, would be extended to other sectors.

“We look forward to having the views of the other Social Partners very soon as it relates to this plan because at this stage we are at now, we have not had the opportunity to sit as a Social Partnership and dialogue, for obvious reasons, and timing was the factor,” the trade unionist said.

Paul said while workers demanded more clarity and information, “there were no dissenting voices among those at the meeting”.

Some workers who did not want to be identified, told Barbados TODAY they were eager to get back to work, even if it meant taking a pay cut.

Others said they would opt for severance, while others said they simply wanted details on the plan.

Today’s meeting was a presentation to workers to share what was being contemplated and proposed by the Ministry of Finance and the economic team. It was also to get feedback from the workers and hear their ideas. (marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)