BRA workers sick out again

For the second consecutive day, workers at the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) took part in a sick-out sanctioned by the Unity Workers’ Union (UWU).

General Secretary Caswell Franklyn confirmed the continued action on Wednesday, insisting that his union would not rest until the grievances of staff were addressed promptly.   

Barbados TODAY understands that industrial action will continue.

While management did not comment on the action taken on Wednesday, they said: “We were not advised of any industrial action yesterday (Tuesday) nor did we have any major impact on our operations.”

However, on its social media pages on Wednesday, BRA announced that its Warrens, St Michael payment centre was closed due to environmental challenges. 

There are roughly 300 staffers at BRA and the UWU represents 106. 

According to Franklyn, he has the largest unionised group at BRA.

He said the main issues the workers were contesting were management’s failure to recognise the union and staff being overlooked for senior positions while those roles were being filled by people from outside the state agency. (SZB)