New regulations on safety and health in the workplace will go before Cabinet next week for final approval.
The announcement was made on Thursday morning by Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations Colin Jordan during a tree-planting ceremony on the grounds of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Solidarity House headquarters.
“Next week, we intend to take back to Cabinet, the completed regulations for their final sign-off, so that we can enact those regulations which will help to give meaning, which will help to give guidance to employer and workers, as we seek together to properly and effectively put into practice the tenets and principles found in the Safety and Health at Work Act,” he disclosed.
“The regulations…will speak, for example, to the provision of drinking water, that will speak to the provision of sanitary conveniences. Government has gone ahead on its estates to have toilet facilities. That needs to be enforced, enacted for everybody across-the-board. Everybody must have access to what we consider to be some basic amenities, and so that will soon come into force.”
Jordan also reiterated an earlier promise by Prime Minister Mia Mottley that the Employment Rights Act will soon be amended and that changes are also coming for the Employment Rights Tribunal. He said the tribunal system will become a full-time operation so as to prevent delays in justice.
The Labour Minister also spoke about workers’ right to associate, saying that while changes are inevitable for the future of work, the right to associate must never change.
“That has to continue. Because we live in a democratic society, the principle of the freedom of association and that a person is able to join with another person or with other people to agitate for a cause . . . has to remain in all of the change that goes on.
“That right to associate must remain fundamental and foundational as we consider what the future will look like, what a changed future will look like,” he contended.
Minister Jordan also asked the BWU to consider what the future of the labour movement would look like.
“That thought has to occupy the minds of those who work, who understand worker collective action, and those who understand the development of society,” he said, adding that the future of work would involve transitioning to more sustainable and environmentally-friendly jobs and doing so in a way that does not disadvantage the worker or the employer.
“But change can get out of hand if it is not guided by principles…if it is not undergirded by principles. And in the context of workers’ organisations . . . some of those principles that have to remain foundational are things like the right to come together as a group to bargain, to recognise that there are power dynamics at play. And so, the idea of collective bargaining has to remain a foundational principle even as life changes, even as societies change,” Jordan argued.
During Thursday’s ceremony, 20 neem, mahogany and fruit trees were planted, representing not only the BWU’s contribution to the environment and to climate change but, in its 80th year, a symbol of its continued life and growth for the future.
Those participating in the planting of the trees on the perimeter of the property, on the western side of the Sir Hugh Springer Auditorium included Minister Jordan, Member of Parliament for St Michael West Christopher Gibbs, BWU President General Shawn Knight, and General Secretary Toni Moore, retired BWU general secretary Sir Roy Trotman, and representatives of the Barbados Employers Confederation. (EJ)
