BWU hails Labour Department overhaul as long overdue

Barbados’ largest trade union declared the government’s proposed revamp of the Labour Department a breakthrough in the fight for workers’ rights, following years of mounting frustration over weak enforcement and “unchecked injustices” across key industries.

Responding to Minister of Labour Colin Jordan about plans to “deconstruct and reconstruct” the department, BWU General Secretary Toni Moore said the union had long raised the alarm over the department’s inability to effectively monitor, investigate and enforce labour standards.

“For quite some time, the Barbados Workers’ Union has been sounding the alarm about the urgent need to strengthen the Labour Department,” Moore told Barbados TODAY. “So this isn’t a sudden epiphany.”

The union recently wrote Prime Minister Mia Mottley, urging a national conversation on mounting labour issues and persistent enforcement gaps, especially in the construction industry, Moore said.

“That letter led to a national meeting with workers in the construction industry where we made it clear that without a stronger Labour Department which is empowered to monitor, investigate and enforce, injustices would continue unchecked,” she said.

Moore, who raised concerns at the union’s 83rd annual delegates’ conference over what she termed a “subcontracting racket” affecting workers, said the problem extended beyond construction and into other sectors where employees were being “shortchanged, mistreated and left without timely recourse”.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” she said.

Jordan, addressing the same conference, revealed plans to separate the department’s conciliation function from its other responsibilities and build sector-specific expertise among its officers.

He said the reorganisation would bring Barbados in line with international best practice and boost the department’s capacity to respond to worker grievances.

The BWU general secretary said the union viewed these changes as “the potential for many workers across Barbados finally to benefit from a Labour Department that not only has the teeth, but has the capacity to use the teeth that it has.”

She linked the government’s proposed action to the union’s consistent advocacy on behalf of workers, pointing to previous campaigns that led to the national minimum wage and the Labour Clauses (Concessions) Act for the tourism industry.

“When we fight, we persist, and we deliver results that will uplift all workers,” Moore concluded.

(SM)