There was no need to establish an advisory body to look into improving the lives of people with disabilities, says general secretary of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) Dennis De Peiza. The work had already been done, he said.
Deeming the establishment of this committee as “political engineering” and “unnecessary” De Peiza noted that CTUSAB had already collaborated with a number of agencies to publish a document in 2019 to empower the disabled community.
During a press conference at the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) headquarters in Welches, St Michael on Friday, the general secretary said that in January 2022 the CTUSAB wrote a letter to the Ministry of Labour and Social Partnership Relations, which was copied to the Prime Minister’s office, requesting that the Social Partnership signed off on the document and for it to be presented to the stakeholders of that body.
The document entitled A Code of Practice for Persons with Disabilities, was created following consultation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Partnership Relations, the Barbados Employers’ Confederation, the Barbados Council of the Disabled, the National Disabilities Unit and the Barbados Organisation for the Disabled.
However, De Peiza said that CTUSAB has never received any correspondence regarding the matter and the document was never presented to the Social Partnership.
“We are a little taken aback . . . to be told of another committee setup for a purpose of doing the same thing, to repeat work that has already been done.”
He recalled that CTUSAB wrote to chairman of the National Advisory Committee Edmund Hinkson last month outlining what work had already been done by the congress and the congress’ concern at not being included on the committee.
He said there was no response.
“It raises red flags. If we are partners . . . why are we being left out or our work is not being recognised as it should? Is it to give credit to some other person for what has been done?”
The Code of Practice for Persons with Disabilities document speaks to a number of issues including a quota system to promote equal employment opportunities for the disabled.
It stated that the disabled community represented six per cent of the national working population and therefore, Government should allocate one sixth of jobs for the disabled community and the private sector should account for the remaining five sixths.
The advisory committee chaired by Hinkson, Member of Parliament for St James North and a former Government minister, was expected to guide the establishment of a Commission for Improving the Lives of Persons with Disabilities. The Deputy chairman is President of the Barbados Council for the Disabled Kerryann Ifill. (SZB)
