NUPW presidential candidate promises PR effort to restore union’s image

An intense public relations effort will be the main strategy used to clean the sullied image of the controversy-plagued National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) if Fabian Jones and his team win next month’s internal elections.

Jones, who is seeking to replace Akanni McDowall as president, declared on Friday that if he comes out on top in the July 15 vote, his priority will be to form a public relations committee with the specific purpose of restoring the organization’s reputation.

During the launch of his team’s election campaign for the executive of the NUPW, Vision for the Workers’ Interests Now, the welfare officer said he was aware that the union was being accused of selling out workers and maintaining political alliances, among other charges.

However, Jones, who has been a shop steward for the last 11 years, gave the assurance that if given the opportunity his executive would be a friend of all and satellite of none, with the interest of workers at the core of its policies.

“We will be forming alliances with all and not being cosy with just one, so that you can’t accuse us of favouring or being biased to one political entity. We are working with all or we are working with none. We also want to speak in such a way that whenever workers hear us that they will hear themselves at the end of what we are trying to achieve. And we have to be consistent,” he told the media.

“Whether it is print media, whether it is social media, we will be having more transparency and more accountability via regular meetings and communication with our membership in real time….

“We want to engage them on Zoom because we realize that a lot of people don’t come forward right now physically, so we want to use that platform in these COVID times. So, PR is going to be a big task for us to overcome that challenge, and we also want to implement a newsletter,” Jones added.

Meanwhile, teacher Daria-Michelle Cave, who is going after the position of 1st Vice President, contended that the public sector is full of workers who believe they have been disrespected over the last few years by the current executive.

However, Cave, also a member of the NUPW National Council, said she would not say the union has sold out workers.

“I can say from talking with them at length, they have been disrespected. So what Vision for the Workers’ Interest Now is aiming to clean up, is that mess first,” she said, adding that the union also wanted more productivity training for all levels of workers.

“What Barbados needs right now is productivity on the rise and we are ready to partner with whomever for that. We are specifically interested in working with the Government to ensure that the workers have everything at their disposal to get their jobs done well, and that the workers are completely taken care of in the performance of their jobs – from families, to jobs, to training; this is what we are interested,” she added.

Social activist David Denny is hoping to be voted in as the NUPW’s 2nd Vice President; while Mclita King, who has been attached to the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) for the past 20 plus years, is vying for the post of 3rd Vice President.

Jones explained that Team Vision for the Workers’ Interest, once given the opportunity, will also focus on greater collaboration with other unions, community and civil society groups.

He said his team wants to be a more strident voice on labour, socio-economic, gender and social justice issues, in addition to creating stronger leadership on labour issues.

Jones also indicated that his team is aspiring to lobby for more non-salary incentives in health, housing, education, energy and transportation for public workers.

Denny added that the team plans to develop working relationships to extend academic scholarships to children of members and young public officers.

He said he was also especially interested in the NUPW working with Government to create a housing programme to target members of the public service.

“Negotiations must not always be centred on salaries but also agreements that can benefit working-class people. And our recommendation would be to look at the area of healthcare because that is a very crucial area in Barbados.

“Many years ago, when Dame Billie Biller was Minister of Health, Barbados had discussed a very important issue but it was never implemented. It was a National Health Service that would have benefitted all of our working-class people. I think we need to go back there to create conditions for people to be able to visit their own medical doctor and it also has a direct relationship with what is happening at the state level,” Denny said.

King, meantime, indicated that she intended to stand in solidarity with her team to keep the labour movement alive, efficient and effective. She declared that she would be focused on educating workers about the organization, in addition to leading the fight for better wages and salaries and creating harmony in working environments. (anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)