CTUSAB wants Government’s ear

The umbrella body representing the island’s trade unions has advised the Government to step up dialogue with the social partnership amid ongoing debate about the absence of an elected opposition.

According to General Secretary of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations (CTUSAB) Dennis De Peiza, this is one sure way of building greater consensus.

“In the absence of an elected opposition, CTUSAB is highly aware of the implications this holds for the functioning of the Parliament of Barbados. The Congress, therefore, calls for a greater level of consultation with individual stakeholders and at the level of the Social Partnership.

“It is important that the Mia Amor Mottley-led administration undertakes to so engage, for the express purpose of achieving a society which enjoys a greater degree of inclusiveness. It is proposed that this could be best achieved through the consolidation of the process of tripartite consultation,” he urged in a statement on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mottley made clear that her Government will preserve democracy and offered two opposition Senate seats to the Democratic Labour Party, the party that accumulated the second-highest number of votes in the January 19 general election, though it failed to gain a seat.

Since then, the party’s interim president Steve Blackett has rejected the offer, stating that in the absence of the Leader of the Opposition, President Dame Sandra Mason and not the Prime Minister was responsible for naming the candidates.

De Peiza maintains that Government should turn its attention to the restoration of the structure and form of the Social partnership as established under successive protocols.

He said this was critical given a number of “burning issues” that must be addressed, including recommendations in the November 2021 Article IV Consultation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Country Report for Barbados that suggested the resumption of a fiscal adjustment programme.

“It is critical that Government commences discussions and consultations with the Social Partnership on its intentions to implement the recommendations. CTUSAB contends that it is important to address the implications which a new or extended IMF Loan Agreement would have for the country,” De Peiza said.

The trade unionist said other issues include the restoration of the economy, employment creation, developing a new prices and incomes policy and completing the process of constitutional reform. (BT/PR)