Workers’ rights must be protected, says NUPW

Day of National Significance ceremony in Golden Square Freedom Park, held in recognition of the 1937 riots. She said that given the rise in the number of lingering and new challenges affecting workers in a variety of sectors, it is important now more than ever that all stakeholders within the social partnership work together to bolster the rights and protections of workers. “We do need strong legislation, policies and CBAs [collective bargaining agreements] that ensure that workers’ rights and labour/trade union rights are guaranteed, no matter the changing global climate; the rights of our workers are respected, whether it’s workers with disabilities or those with different political, social, religious, ethnic, or sexual orientation or persuasions,” Agard said. “The fruition of these requisite changes must be at the forefront of the mind of those individuals tasked with the creation, implementation and execution of the ideas, strategies and suggestions for the future of workers in Barbados.” Addressing suggestions that tenure and seniority within workplaces cannot be used as the sole basis for promotion, Agard said that a fair form of assessment that accounts for all important parameters should be used. “It is the view of the union that both seniority and qualifications can be flawed indicators or ability to perform a job, especially when one is used over the other. Better means should be found. They should both be used in conjunction with a more accurate and efficient means of suitability and ability to perform the job, so that as an assessment tool, neither seniority nor qualifications alone would be the determining factor.” The union official also urged stakeholders to be proactive in their approach to addressing the issues concerning workers before the situation reaches a breaking point. “We cannot and should not sit idly and allow matters which can easily be resolved to fester, and create seas of discontent and resentment within our labour force. We need a brand of social dialogue that is fortified by trust and can withstand scrutiny. “As we all are aware, a volatile industrial climate can create national level crises. It is essential that we continue to analyse our current labour force and workers’ climate carefully as we attempt to build on the blocks necessary for further development,” Agard said. Earlier this week, General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union Toni Moore warned of an “extreme” display of industrial action in the near future if employers did not do better by their workers. (SB)]]>