In a significant development for the tourism industry, workers are set to benefit from a national agreement aimed at ensuring proper pay and working conditions, General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Toni Moore has announced.
Moore disclosed the details during a rally for hotel workers at Solidarity House, the union’s headquarters at Harmony Hall, on Thursday night – the eve of the official start of the winter tourist season.
The provisions of the deal, which Moore expects to be passed into law in the new year, cover a range of contentious issues that have been at the centre of a rancorous public spat between the union and the tourism industry’s trade association.
The agreement, which has been endorsed by the Social Partnership, establishes a baseline of conditions that the industry must follow to receive concessions from the government, Moore said.
“It sets the floor of conditions below which no participant with the government, in terms of receiving concessions, will be able to fall. Otherwise, you simply can’t benefit from the concessions that the government provides,” she said.
She indicated that the framework agreement is expected to be signed next week.
Moore said: “[There] will be a tripartite signing with the Government of Barbados, labour, the Barbados Workers Union, and the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, and I believe the private sector because it will also raise and improve the level of the social partnership.”
The general secretary, who is also the Member of Parliament for St George North, said she expected legislation to go before Parliament by February to enforce the agreement. The law would be based on the Labour Clauses, and Public Contract Act and make provision for minimal standards at the national level.
“The collective agreement with the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) and the BWU is over 60 years old and is the standard,” the union leader told the rally. “That is what is being used as the basis of the national agreement. Will it include all areas of the collective agreement? We can’t say that yet, because that is what is yet to be negotiated over the next two to four weeks.”
The BWU General Secretary said some specific issues were raised over the last three months during talks led by Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Minister of Tourism Ian Gooding-Edghill and Minister of Labour Colin Jordan.
Several of those issues have been at the centre of a protracted war of words between the union and the hotel association in recent months. Among them are the payment of service charges to workers, contracts linked to the seasonality in the industry, meal allowances, and uniforms, Moore indicated.
“And then there will be other issues that will be, we imagine, extrapolated from the collective agreement that will form the basis of the national level agreement,” she added. “It has been the experience over the years, [that] the parties to the collective agreement with the BWU have significantly decreased, even though they maintain their affiliation to the BHTA.
“It is okay to be a member of the BHTA to get concessions. But they can opt out as a member of the BHTA from being obligated to the collective agreement . . . . So really, what a national agreement does is force you . . . . You don’t have the opportunity to opt in or to opt out, the choice is only one or two things – do you want concessions or not? If you want concessions, then you have to follow the standards, and that is not only for hotels but it is for the entire tourism sector. You want the concession? Adhere to the minimum standards.”
Moore further added the national agreement will also help to establish a minimum wage for the industry. Other terms and conditions are expected to be included in the schedule of the agreement.
Regarding timelines, Moore expressed optimism about the attainability of the BWU’s goals for the industry, particularly given the finite end of the tourism high season. The union leader stressed the importance of establishing and meeting timelines to instil confidence in workers
Next week’s signing of the deal will demonstrate the commitment of both the union and the government to uphold standards and accountability in the tourism industry, she declared.
Moore said: “It’s going to be very important for those timelines to not only be established but to be met and guaranteed to give workers confidence that the union has represented their interests, that the Government of Barbados is serious about holding the sector and bringing [it to] account [and] to assure them the minimum standards of decency. And their work was happening next week, [with the] signing of the framework agreement at the national level.” (RG)
