The labour movement will have to make multiple adjustments to remain relevant in modern society, officials have told a forum on whether unions are evolving or endangered in today’s workplace.
During a panel discussion organised by the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) at the NUPW’s Dalkeith headquarters, panellists attorney-at-law Michelle Russell and trade unionists Wayne Walrond and Julian Hunte weighed in on some of the changing dynamics in the workplace and what unions would have to do to ensure their existence.
Walrond, the NUPW’s deputy general secretary, said new technologies, working contracts and new types of employment were among the main concerns of the labour movement.
“What we are faced with in the new world, in the modern world, is artificial intelligence, contract work, working from home [arrangements], the informal sector and the new type of worker. We have to be in a position to have varied responses as to how we can properly organise these new types of workers and be aware of the issues,” he said.
“We [unions] may have to look at the whole notion of [being] just subscription-based and look at where we can provide a professional service. We have a lot of vending in Barbados, a lot of persons in the informal sector, and they are not captured in the national insurance social safety net or not properly organised.”
Walrond also accused some organisations of crossing into areas under the union’s purview.
“We have to watch the development of the Social Partnership, don’t let it replace collective bargaining in the public service. While the Social Partnership is a catalyst to push the agenda of government and the private sector, we, the labour, sit between two employers [and] have to be careful that we are not subsuming our rights in terms of matters coming up,” he said.
Using examples to substantiate his point, he said: “Sick leave came up at the [level] of the Social Partnership and that is something to be discussed with the union and the Ministry of Public Service. Things like pension reform came up and a committee was set up on the Social Partnership level, so we have to be careful. And then the whole thing with mergers moving quickly and deadlines being set and unions trying to play catch-up to what is going on in terms of their members. These are phenomena we have to watch carefully.”
Russell noted two main reasons for workers hesitating to join a union: “More often than not, it comes from either a lack of understanding or distrust.
“A lack of understanding . . . . ‘I don’t know why this is valuable to me. I only see unions when there is trouble. There are strikes and then people lose their jobs and I just want to feed my family’. The other one is distrust; if I don’t trust your intentions, if I think you’re just selling me something to collect subscriptions and if I don’t trust that you will actually lobby on behalf of my interests, then I will not associate with you. . . . You have to show them what the benefit is in collective activism and the benefit isn’t taught, it’s shown.”
Hunte said there was a strong sense of individualism creeping into the society.
“As people become more educated, they’re more empowered and they believe in themselves and their capacity to bring about the outcome they would want. That is a challenge for collectivism because people believe ‘I can do it myself’,” he said, adding that the growth of the union depended heavily on leaders’ organisation abilities.
“The collective is made up of the individual, and individuals experience the same environment, the same realities differently. But the challenge for the trade union organisers is to help those individuals recognise what they have in common; that whatever external circumstance may be threatening them and making them uncomfortable, that is the same as what is experienced by their colleagues around them. Then you have to show them how strong they can be if they have a united front.”
