Police and fire officers are calling on authorities to grant them the same freedom of association recently accorded prison officers by a High Court.
And they are getting the support of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) which has urged the Government to urgently make the necessary legislative changes to make that a reality.
The calls come days after Justice Cecil McCarthy struck down as “unconstitutional, null and void” the Prison Amendment Act 1982 which made it unlawful for prison officers to join, associate with, or to benefit financially from trade unions.
The controversial legislation, which Justice McCarthy last Friday ruled significantly restricted prison officers’ freedom of association enshrined in the Constitution, had also prevented the Prison Officers’ Association from representing members on issues relating to conditions of service or their ability to bargain collectively.
Contending that they operate under similar legislation, police and fire officers are now also seeking freedom of association and collective bargaining power for themselves.
“With that particular ruling, it means that there is some leverage for us to put a case to have that part for the police removed as well,” President of the Police Association Mervin Grace told Barbados TODAY.
He noted this was an issue the association had been seeking to have successive governments rectify through the offices of CTUSAB, the umbrella body for local unions.
Declaring that industrial action is “definitely” not what the police officers are seeking from changes to their Act, Grace said the leadership of the association expects to have talks soon with Government on the best way forward.
“We will have further discussions, both with the CTUSAB as well as with the government of the day, so we will wait and see what the turnout is. It should be favourable. It is one that I know we will engage the Attorney General on in a short space of time,” the spokesman said.
Grace added: “Under no circumstances will the police be looking to do industrial action. That is not the scope of what we are trying to do. The scope is just to have the right to associate so that we can get the assistance of all the other unions…the umbrella body to assist us with salary negotiations and collective bargaining and these kinds of things. We can do it ourselves, but the assistance goes a long way.
“But it is not a case that we are looking for a reason to have industrial action. We are not actually looking to join trade unions, we are looking to associate. We don’t have an issue with being a police association, we just need the right. We do it right now, but at the pleasure of the Commissioner [of Police], Once the legislation is corrected, then we know we will be doing it legally.”
President of the Fire Officers Association Corrie Bridgeman said his organisation had also been pushing for several years to get similar changes.
“We are no different to prisons and police, where our acts are very, very similar, which state that we can’t join trade unions and that kind of stuff. The level of freedom of speech that we would have, it hinders that. Just like prisons, we also would like to join unions the same way so we can express the things we would not be able to express under a union umbrella,” he told Barbados TODAY.
He said fire officers’ ability to join a trade union was challenged when “an individual flexed his muscles and was told the Constitution states you can’t do this and you can do that”.
“So, we also want to have that freedom. My predecessors had been fighting that for many, many years, a little before I came to service. As entities, the three of us spoke about this several times and now that this ruling has come we, too, would like the opportunity to join unions,” Bridgeman stressed.
He, like Grace, sought to give the country the assurance that strike action was not on the fire officers’ agenda.
“Obviously, we have the island to protect. We are saying our voices need to be heard. We are members of the workforce in the same way [as others]; we still have issues,” Bridgeman contended.
He explained that his association, while having a “minimum” say in salary negotiations through CTUSAB, would like a “little more freedom” to independently state what it requires for its members.
In a statement issued on Thursday, CTUSAB called on the Mia Mottley administration to pass the legislation necessary for members of the Barbados Police Service and the Barbados Fire Service to join trade unions.
“Now that the judgement of the High Court allows the Prisons Officers with the legal right to associate, CTUSAB posits that consistent with this, the relevant legislation must be introduced post-haste to grant the same right to police and fire officers,” stated General Secretary Dennis DePeiza.
“Further, it is expected that the necessary amendments to the Trade Union Act, Chap. 361 as well as the Constitution of Barbados, would be similarly amended so as to give effect to the amended Police Act.”
DePeiza, describing the court ruling as a victory for CTUSAB, noted that the body had been “vigorously contesting” the “constitutional violation” of the rights of police, prisons, and fire officers since 2005.
He recalled that Sir Leroy Trotman, who was CTUSAB President in 2005, wrote the then Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs Mia Mottley making representations on behalf of the members of the Protective Services.
Attorney General Dale Marshall described Justice McCarthy’s written judgement as a “useful precedent” and said the right of association for all of those organisations was being reviewed.
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