NUPW dispute cause for concern

Tempers flared at an emergency meeting of the executive council of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Tuesday, but Deputy Acting General Secretary Richard Green suggested it was all because of a misunderstanding about the purpose of the meeting.

But he said the controversy also pointed to a larger issue – concerns about the direction in which the union is heading.

“I can tell you that there are a lot of people who are not comfortable with the way this is going,” Green admitted.

Explaining what had transpired earlier in the day, he explained that some members believed that action was being taken at today’s meeting to appoint a General Secretary, on the heels of a petition to have a new Secretary General post created and president Akanni McDowall become the first person in that position.

However, Green insisted, that was not the case and none of the union’s regulations or statutes were breached.

Police were called in earlier in the day after the closed-door talks became heated.

At the centre of the dispute was a petition, proposed by union member Natalie Murray and signed by 135 others, which called for McDowall to be appointed the first Secretary General of the union. The petition seeks to trigger a special meeting to put the case for McDowall.

Green said the agenda for today’s meeting did not include the appointment of any persons, but some vocal members of the union believed otherwise, which triggered highly heated debates.

“On the matter today was the post of General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary. The agenda item did not say the appointment of General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary. There is a process that was recommended in filling the posts that was not allowed to come forward, it was not allowed to happen.

“The petition and resolution spoke to how the post of General Secretary would have been nullified, and [made] Secretary General. In the context of looking for a way forward for the organization, the council asked how to have this matter addressed, the whole matter of how we are going to go about filling the post of General Secretary,” he explained.

Admitting that the level of animosity displayed during the course of the day between opposing sides of the Secretary General issue was cause for concern, Green said several members of the union have been expressing worry about the direction in which the organization was seemingly heading.

“Persons have indicated, especially through that meeting, that they feel very strongly about the direction in which the union is going. I can tell you that there are a lot of people who are not comfortable with the way this is going, because it speaks to the heart of the union and what the union represents,” he said.

“The union does not represent summary dismissal, the union represents due process, the right for a person to answer to accusations; the union is also in the business of, in the event you want to fill a post, that all suitably qualified persons are given the opportunity to compete and it’s not a simple case of one person in Barbados being the most eligible candidate. The membership, especially the councillors, do have a vested interest in the governance of this organization, and want to ask questions about it,” he stressed.

After the events that transpired, Green said that a relook at the current structures within the organization was needed if public confidence was to remain high in the NUPW.

“After what transpired today, we are going to take a step back and look at our governance structures, look at what we need to make sure that we stay in the confines of the law and confines of the rules, and make sure that we address them. Every member who has a question to ask, that has a matter that they want addressed, that we address it,” he assured. (SB)