#BTEditorial – Workers need to hear from the BWU. We all do.

We have heard repeatedly that COVID-19 presents unprecedented challenges in these unprecedented times. We get it. 

The fallout of the pandemic socially and economically is all too apparent. That is why we empathise with employers just as much as we feel the pain of employees. 

But even in the face of this mayhem and uncertainty, we cannot in good faith condone any situations that are not just or fair to our workers. 

We reported Wednesday that prominent attorney-at-law Michael Lashley QC called for measures to be put in place to shield workers from victimisation.

Lashley said: “They are being pressured and my position is that it is indeed an unlawful act by the employer to say to that employee, ‘you have to come back to work or else’ when you have a situation where someone is waiting on a test. 

“I will send the necessary correspondence to the employer letting them know that it is indeed unlawful under the laws of Barbados and indeed send a letter to the Ministry of Health to get them to produce the test results.”

We are disheartened to hear this yet again. We are also concerned that a worker felt the need to turn to an attorney, to pay for services of representation. We can only assume that the employee is not a member of a trade union. 

Stories have circulated since news of our COVID-19 outbreak. We have learned of an employer who demanded workers leave a polyclinic, after they were there waiting in long lines to be tested and told to get back to work. 

We have heard of employers who have told workers that the period they were in isolation could not be treated as sick leave but they would be laid off instead.   

We have been told of employers who have some workers filling in, working double shifts but not being paid overtime. 

And there have been instances where workers who were awaiting a second test were told they must come to work and deal with customers.

One might dismiss these as mere stories. But clearly, there has to be some truth to the claims that have been buttressed by a Queen’s Counsel’s revelations.

Barbados TODAY has published reports quoting Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn on the mistreatment of workers. So, there is an issue that obviously has not been dealt with.

So for us, it begs the question – where is the nation’s largest trade union?

What is the Barbados Workers Union’s position on this seemingly menacing issue that employees are facing? What is being done to address this issue and to ensure better is done in the future? 

The BWU’s voice must be heard as long as there are complaints from workers of unfair or unjust treatment. The BWU, traditionally, has been the voice of the workers but this recent silence is deafening.

The irony is that on Wednesday when the story was published with Lashley lamenting a worker’s plight, the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) gave its civilian members who work at Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds, an instruction. The NUPW’s President Akanni McDowell told its civilian staff at the prison not to report for work.

McDowell said: “The NUPW is uncomfortable at this stage with the reintegration of civilian staff back into the workplace at Her Majesty’s Prison. There are some concerns expressed to us by our membership and as such we are invoking section 104 of the Safety and Health Act.”

The union leader said the civilian staff at HMP Dodds should remain at home until the union is able to negotiate the terms and conditions prior to their re-entry.

Prior to this drastic action by the NUPW, on Monday, Senator Franklyn, Industrial Relations Advisor to the Prison Officers Association of Barbados (POAB) said he was filing two separate lawsuits against Government on behalf of these public officers. 

The first action is for defamation of character allegedly against the men whom Government officials had publicly said could not be found for testing for coronavirus. In the second action, he gave the Government until Tuesday to release the three officers who were relocated from their homes to a south coast hotel being used for quarantine. 

Interestingly, earlier this week we also heard from the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU). The concern for BSTU president Mary-Anne Redman relates to the writing of Caribbean Examination Council (CXCs).

On Tuesday, the trade unionist told Barbados TODAY that CXC examinations should be deferred until 2022 and fifth and sixth formers should be allowed to come back to school for an additional year.

Redman said: “In the BSTU, our position is that they should really seek to defer exams this year. The reality is that children who are presently in fifth form, last year only had two terms of teaching because the last term would have been online and it was a term of revision and consolidation. Because of the digital divide, we had teachers and students without devices or others without connectivity and therefore they were not able to benefit in the way that they should.”

So this week alone we have heard BSTU telling the Ministry of Education that they should seek a deferral from CXC. And, by the way, it can be done. Antigua and Barbuda requested the same for their students last Wednesday, January 6. 

We know that Senator Franklyn and his Unity Trade Union are taking court action on behalf of workers. We also have NUPW speaking out firmly.

But we are yet to hear the BWU weighing in on these many challenges that workers are facing due to the current outbreak.

Where is the voice of the BWU? The workers need to hear it. So do we.