Sub-regional secretary of Caribbean Public Services International (PSI) Sandra Massiah has rapped the trade union movement in Barbados for its silence on local, regional and international matters which will impact the island’s workforce.
Delivering the feature address at the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) midterm delegates conference on Thursday, she said the labour movement must speak up.
“Whether we like it or not, Barbados is in the midst of what is happening not only in the Caribbean but worldwide. And, therefore, one would expect that the trade union movement in Barbados would also be in that area. You cannot have a situation… – and I am hearing in groups globally – where we are discussing things like the Bridgetown Initiative and what’s happening with the climate crisis, and . . . our leadership nationally is making statements, but yet from the workers who will have to make these things happen, one is not hearing anything – and it bugs me!” Massiah said.
“Perhaps someone who’s here can tell me why is it that you’re not making the statements? Why aren’t you presenting the views of your current and potential membership? That’s what the people out there want from you. They want to join unions because they do recognise the value. They do want an organisation that can speak on their behalf. But they’re looking and they’re listening, and maybe you’re not saying the things that they want to hear or doing the things they want to know that you are doing,” she added.
Massiah told the umbrella organisation that it has to be willing to “disrupt a few things” if it was serious about building and fortifying the local labour movement in a transformative age.
“We have to make some of those who are comfortable, uncomfortable because they may be comfortable because you’re quiet. Many times, I see the headlines on Barbados TODAY as I keep up with what’s going on. And then, when I look, I don’t see the responses from the labour movement. Why is that? In fact, I would suggest that in building and fortifying the movement, you have to use your foresight to talk about things even before they get on the headline because you have access, especially through PSI.
PSI is a global union federation of more than 700 trade unions representing 30 million workers in 154 countries.
Massiah also highlighted the impact of the climate crisis on the labour force, noting that it went beyond the “simplistic” view of workers being outside in the heat and extended to the fact that climate change was fueling migration.
“Don’t think that this is only an Italy thing and an Africa thing. It is happening in the Caribbean; that’s what’s happening in the case of the Venezuelan population going to Trinidad and Tobago. Look what happened recently with the Haitians who went to Jamaica. One boatload got through and they sent back the second load, and that is then fueling hatred. So these are the reasons why we see them as issues of the trade union movement,” she argued. (JB)
