Friday, April 14 is one of many significant days on our national calendar. It is the anniversary of the 1816 Bussa Rebellion and is also now the start of the annual Season of Emancipation.
The slave rebellion here was the first of three slave uprisings that took place in the West Indies. Enslaved men and women who worked on several estates and plantations believed that Barbados belonged to them and wanted their freedom from the plantation owners. After much bloodshed, their freedom was granted.
Many may argue there are certain rights, freedoms and privileges that are still being fought for today, 207 years later.
While we are now a population made up of a Black majority, the issue of race may have taken a back seat to other challenges.
One major fight that continues is the labour fight, once between worker and owner now between employee and employer.
Just this week, General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Richard Green lamented that the Employment Rights Tribunal (ERT), the legal and justice framework set up to deal with worker’s challenges, has not been given the resources it needs to efficiently carry out its duties.
Insisting that the tribunal must not be treated as a “step-child” in resolving labour issues, Green also expressed serious concern about the lengthy delays in having cases heard before the ERT.
He said: “How seriously the ERT is taken is reflected in the resources that have been given to it. I do not think it has been given the status that it truly deserves, and more manpower resources and more technical resources should be given to the tribunal.”
His comments echoed those of former ERT Chairman, Retired Court of Appeal Justice Christopher Blackman who, in retiring from the tribunal last week, lamented that he had left several issues outstanding.
Barbados TODAY also reported that BICO Ltd. workers and the company’s executive chairman Edwin Thirwell were at a stalemate this week. The full-time and part-time mobile ice cream retail vendors who object to recent changes to their fee structure staged a protest on Thursday that they vowed to keep up until there is a review of the new charges.
They say BICO management has imposed steep increases in various fees including electricity charges to offset hikes by the Barbados Light & Power Company.
Also in the news this week, the NUPW complained that environmental issues were placing workers under undue pressure.
Deputy General Secretary Wayne Walrond said the union was receiving complaints about air quality at several Government buildings in Warrens as well as at Air Traffic Control at the Grantley Adams International Airport. He said there were also reports that workers at the Ministry of Education were unhappy they were not given temporary accommodations.
But it has not been all bad news on the labour front.
This week, we also reported that Pedro Shepherd, former president of the Barbados Teachers’ Union and Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate, was cleared of disciplinary charges. He is now free to resume duties as a Government-paid teacher.
He and another teacher Alwyn Babb were charged last year by the Ministry of the Public Service under General Order 3.18:1 for contesting the January 2022 general elections and were suspended with half pay.
Babb, who was actually found guilty and penalised, said on Tuesday he was awaiting a written decision on reinstatement, compensation and the clearing of his name.
The two who contested the polls for the DLP had stood their ground when the initial charges were brought.
Even with all the laws that have been passed, workers, labourers, employees – or whatever we choose to call them – are still fighting for rights.
So, while we have cause to celebrate the Season of Emancipation given where we have come from and all we have overcome, we pray for the day that the battles many of us are forced to fight daily will be no more.
