Trade unionists spar in public

Two of the country’s best-known union leaders squared off in a war of words on Tuesday as they jockeyed for the attention of a group of government workers who walked off the job.

The embarrassing spat unfolded on the northern steps of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) as President of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Akanni McDowall addressed the concerns of members.

Moments later, at around 2 p.m., General Secretary of the Unity Workers’ Union (UWU) Senator Caswell Franklyn emerged, and after greeting a handful of public workers took up his position adjacent to McDowall.

After observing the proceedings for a few minutes and murmuring intermittently, the Opposition Senator declared: “I’ve heard enough of this foolishness. You are misleading these people. Let me talk because I am tired of this nonsense.”

He then attempted to address the crowd, to which McDowall responded: “Come on! Come on Caswell!”

After objections from some workers to Senator Franklyn’s interruptions, McDowall continued to speak as the Opposition Senator urged him to “be truthful” with the workers. When McDowall was finished making his points, the visibly fuming union president told Senator Franklyn, “the floor is yours, Caswell”.

The NIS employees who are overwhelmingly represented by the NUPW, were off the job in response to alleged breaches of COVID-19 protocols, which they fear could potentially expose them and their families to the deadly virus. They are also frustrated about a proposal that would remove the NIS from the mainstream public service and transition it to a statutory board.

Tuesday’s confrontation appears to be a significant deviation from established union code, which dictates that even competing unions refrain from publicly criticising fellow unions, especially in the absence of attempts to address the grievances behind closed doors.  Ironically, the two unions appear to hold the same position on the matters as they both advised NIS employees to stay off  the job and to reject the ‘board change’ proposal.

But Senator Franklyn, himself a former NUPW officer, told reporters that he would not stand by and allow workers to be misled. The senator explained that of particular concern were statements made by McDowall suggesting that the NUPW had opposed similar changes to the organisational structure at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA).

“When I hear people misleading people I cannot stand up and watch it. He doesn’t have a clue what is going on, but he is a showman,” Senator Franklyn said of McDowall.

“He’s saying things that I know to be absolutely untrue, but they don’t know that, so I am not going to let him continue to say it and mislead workers… So when he came forward with that nonsense, I couldn’t take it,” he added.

The Unity Workers trade unionist further declared that McDowall’s presence at the walkout was not consistent with his duties as president. Instead, he said the matter should have been led by the NUPW’s professional staff.

“His job in the union is to sign cheques and chair meetings. He has no calling out here doing this because it is not his role or his function. Where is the parent staff of the NUPW?” Franklyn asked.

In response, the public workers’ union president declared that “a mature union” would not seek to create a confrontation with another union in the public.

“If Caswell and I have something that we need to discuss outside of the meeting, then we can do so. But the meeting is not about me. The meeting is about the members and I am not going to get into any confrontation in public between unions,” McDowall explained.

He added that Senator Franklyn’s presence at the meeting could not be considered an “interruption” because members of his union are employees of the NIS.

“Even if he has one member at the NIS, I think he has the right to represent that one member. We have the majority of members here but he still has membership here, so he should be given the opportunity to represent his members,” McDowall added.

Senator Franklyn rubbished the notion that his animated objections were desperate attempts to attract members from the country’s largest public-sector trade union.

“The NUPW is doing a good job getting rid of their members by themselves. I don’t need their help, so I don’t need to push them. The same thing that is happening with the BWU is happening with the NUPW,” Senator Franklyn concluded.

(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)