‘Heavy Manners’

The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) appears to be on a collision course with the Public Service Commission and government department heads regarding the methods used to discipline public officers accused of misconduct or unprofessional behaviour.

In strongly worded comments to Barbados TODAY, NUPW Deputy General Secretary Wayne Walrond revealed that the union has encountered cases where officers have been kept on suspension for up to five years, even after being exonerated by the courts. Describing this as a “very serious” situation, Walrond said the union now needs to “advocate, agitate and assert itself more”.

The NUPW plans to formally raise its concerns soon with the public service commission – now known as the Administrative, Technical and Professional Service Commission – as an “initial step toward bringing an end to the “stereotypical and unjust” approaches” in disciplining employees. A major issue, according to Walrond, is that superiors often suspend officers first before gathering evidence against them.

Walrond said it is particularly worrying that in too many cases, public officers are suspended and then

their superiors allegedly start looking for evidence. He questioned this approach: “Before you proceed, you got to give me a bit more evidence. I don’t want to have this officer on suspension…give me something more substantial. Give me a report…give me something that once you proceed, you proceed on something.”

Walrond accused the service commission of being “very keen and happy” to allow suspensions to continue for years before concluding there is insufficient evidence to justify disciplinary action. “You are putting people’s lives on pause and the commission seems very keen and happy to say proceed, proceed, then it takes up to five years before they realise that they don’t have any evidence and then they have to bring you back to work,” he told Barbados TODAY.

The NUPW official alleged that even after courts exonerate suspended officers, government legal departments continue searching for grounds to charge them with misconduct. “Even when they get the report a year later, they still fighting for you not to get back your job. It’s like a stereotype. It is like the court’s exoneration is not sufficient…like once you are accused, you then guilty.”

Walrond also criticised the practice of taxing returning workers’ accumulated back pay at higher bracket rates when they had been receiving half-pay during the suspension.

“It is something we need to look at,” he declared. “We usually keep quiet about it, but we now have to put it out in the public and write on it as well. I find there is a laid-back process and people suffering, and nobody is doing anything to improve it. They are comfortable…but it is people’s lives you are playing with.”

The deputy general secretary argued the union should prioritise protecting workers’ interests over avoiding conflicts that could impact the government. “The government is protected in what it does. We don’t have to protect the government. We need to stand up and agitate for workers. That is what we need to do. There are too many issues out there that we need to agitate on behalf of the workers.”

Walrond insisted the union must take a more aggressive stance: “Given the environment, you have to be a strong advocate, you have to be assertive…because I feel that unless you are prepared to employ the struggle, you don’t get what you want or you don’t get some measure of success. We got to fight.”

He stated that a trade union’s effectiveness ultimately depends on “how the trade union is being led in terms of advocacy”.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb