GIS sickout prompts NUPW questions about merger with information agency

By Ryan Gilkes

The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) has made an urgent call for talks with the public service and information ministries, saying that the merger of two government information agencies – one with a 66-year track record in getting out the government’s message, the other a six-year-old creation of the Mia Mottley administration – is a source of stress for employees.

The impending merger between the Government Information Service (GIS) and the Public Affairs Department, which is slated for April 1, the start of the government’s new financial year, triggered apparent industrial action by GIS staff when several employees called in sick on Wednesday.

While the majority of GIS staff are unionised, it was not immediately clear who among the workers at the fledgling Public Affairs Department had union representation.

Deputy General Secretary of the NUPW Wayne Walrond told Barbados TODAY: “For quite some time, over several months, staff have been mentally stressed over the cloud of uncertainty which hangs over the GIS [regarding] the proposed merger. We have been hearing a lot about the mergers. They have been just hearing things.”

He said that a pronouncement was made during the Estimates in 2023 that the GIS would be subsumed into the Public Affairs Department, but he expressed concern about the lack of clear communication and consultation regarding the merger. 

With just over two months to the deadline, key details remain unclear, the NUPW official said.

“The union has not been engaged in any dialogue. We have not discussed the organisational structure, people do not have a defined job description.  What jobs will remain relevant? What new jobs will be created? The staff has also observed that a lot of their has been taken over by [the] Public Affairs [Department],” Walrond said.

“This has created for them a bit of uncertainty and confusion about what is the intention of the Government Information Service. GIS has been there for decades . . . as the public relations arm for the government, receiving numerous awards for their work. Now this department is being marginalised, even to be subsumed into another department that has been recently created, you would expect them to feel hard done by this situation.”

Walrond said the GIS staff had sought clarity from management but answers were not forthcoming. As a result, the union plans to write to the Ministry of the Civil Service for urgent discussions on the merger. 

“What is the status of the proposed merger? What about the intimate details that needed to be discussed like job descriptions and salary scales? What jobs are going to be redesigned, what jobs do you abolish?” the union’s deputy general secretary said.  

“You have to know these things. Within the public service, it is an intricate place where you have to understand how it works in detail. There is a whole [legislative] process that you go through when you are doing mergers and reforms. It is not about saying the deadline is April 1st. In recent times, the public service has not been engaged to the extent that it used to be in the past in terms of transitions and ironing out issues and positions being imposed. There needs to be a lot more dialogue in terms of the arrangement,” Walrond added. (RG)