If there was ever a time when workers needed to have strong representation, it is now.
The challenges confronting the employed after two years of a pandemic and now in a period of economic flux, rising inflation, and uncertainty spawned by geopolitical events, make for a troubling time for workers.
And so, it was regretful to witness the ongoing rift between the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) and the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) which spilled out in a most awkward way on May Day.
The BWU, had a show of force at its event in the National Botanical Gardens, with the support of the Prime Minister and other members of Cabinet. With such a major national event taking place in her constituency, it was expected that the country’s leader would be present.
There was music, merriment, lofty speeches, and symbolically-important tree planting.
Instead of the show of unity that is demanded of the trade union fraternity, there was a competing event hosted by CTUSAB in another historically important space – Golden Square Freedom Park, in The City.
There was the music of the Police Service Band, calypsonians, speeches from some trade union leaders, as well as an appropriate presentation by the Minister of Labour, Social Security and the Third Sector. Broadcast live on one of the leading radio stations, this May Day activity embraced the sound and feel of the official national event.
We have no idea what the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) chose as its main focus to celebrate the workers’ day, but as the country’s largest public sector union, it seemed to be missing in action.
The posture of the two workers’ representatives to host competing events on May Day, could be described as symptomatic of the current state of affairs in the labour movement.
Frankly, it is divided. And when such an important organ in society is in conflict with itself, it is the workers of this country who are the ultimate losers.
Some have aptly described the current situation as a crisis of confidence. The movement appears to be split down the middle on political, tactical, and personality lines.
The public bashing last year of Unity Workers Union and its leader Caswell Frankly by his colleagues in the movement, was a clear sign of a much bigger issue. We can only imagine who would relish such a chasm in the labour movement.
General secretary of the BWU and parliamentary backbencher Toni Moore, in media reports, acknowledged there had been no mending of the fences since it split from CTUSAB almost ten years ago.
“The BWU pulled out of CTUSAB for principled reasons and a number of those reasons have never reached the public domain because our organisation prides itself as one that does not air its dirty linen. Along with that fracture, there were some fundamental reasons that the other unions know about, and a number of those issues have not been resolved as yet,” Ms Moore told the Press.
On the other hand, General Secretary of CTUSAB Dennis de Peiza contended that his organisation had not received a response from the BWU to its overtures at reconciliation.
He however, said he “would welcome the BWU and any other union to join us”.
It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that the trade union movement as a whole in Barbados is losing the confidence of its constituents.
With the possible exception of the fledgling UWU, trade unions are not experiencing any clamor by workers to join their ranks. And it is certainly not because all is well on the labour front.
There is no need for us to lecture trade union leaders about the importance of unity, for it is the bedrock of the movement.
But for our union leaders who may be experiencing a bit of amnesia about why they exist, we point to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) 2016 statement by Maria Helena Director of the ILO’s Bureau for Workers’ Activities titled: Trade Union Unity is Key for the Labour Movement.
The comments may be dated but relevant. She said the world of work was far from being secure, and that the brunt of the economic and financial upheavals experienced were largely borne by working women and men.
Helena called for strengthening and deepening trade union unity and solidarity, bearing in mind the importance of unity between and amongst trade unions.
“Trade union unity is seen as the new approach for the labour movement to modernise its structures, broaden its membership base and promote solidarity. Moreover, trade union unity constitutes a formidable response to a myriad of external and internal challenges facing workers’ organisations at all levels.”
