BWU calls for full disclosure after BESCO job cuts

The Barbados Workers’ Union is demanding full disclosure from the Barbados Energy and Sugar Company after ten workers were made redundant, warning that employees should not bear the fallout of decisions made without clear explanation.

The union said it had already met with the company over its restructuring plans and was now calling for full disclosure of the financial and operational challenges BESCO says prompted the move.

“The union is therefore pressing for full disclosure of the financial and operational challenges cited by the company,” the BWU said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Our position is that workers cannot be asked to absorb the consequences of restructuring without a clear understanding of the circumstances giving rise to those decisions, the alternatives considered, and the measures being taken to prevent further fallout.”

On Monday, BESCO announced that ten employees would lose their jobs at the end of the 2026 sugar harvest as part of what it described as a limited restructuring to align its staffing and operating costs with the company’s current commercial realities.

The decision followed sustained operational and financial pressures affecting both BESCO and the wider sugar industry, said the cooperative running the country’s lone mill at Portvale.

Since the government divested its sugar operations, BESCO has operated as a private company without receiving a government subvention and must finance its operations through commercial revenues while meeting the costs of cane processing, factory operations, labour, and maintenance, it said.

It maintained that the restructuring was necessary to support a more sustainable operating model and preserve the company’s long-term viability.

But while acknowledging that the redundancies did not trigger the statutory threshold for mandatory consultation under the Employment Rights Act, the BWU said consultation should never be viewed as merely a legal obligation:

“The union does not regard consultation as a mere technical requirement.

“For the BWU, consultation remains a fundamental principle of sound industrial relations, particularly in circumstances where workers’ livelihoods, families, and communities are directly affected.”

According to the union, discussions with the company began after BESCO formally advised it of its restructuring intentions in correspondence dated June 12.

The BWU said it had since made clear that the process should be guided by transparency, accountability and meaningful engagement with the recognised bargaining agent.

It is now urging broader talks over the future of both BESCO and the sugar industry.

“The BWU also considers it urgent that structured dialogue be convened on the way forward for the company and, by extension, the wider industry,” the statement said.

“These discussions are critical to protecting workers in this sector, who have long been part of the backbone of national development and whose contribution must not be treated as incidental in moments of institutional or economic difficulty.”

No further restructuring should be contemplated until every possible option has been explored to safeguard jobs and protect workers’ rights, the union insisted.

“The union’s position remains clear: no further action should be contemplated unless every possible measure has been explored to safeguard employment, protect workers’ rights, and ensure that decisions are taken in a manner consistent with best-practice industrial relations.”

The BWU said it would continue engaging BESCO and other parties, maintaining that its priority remained protecting workers while pursuing what it described as “a sustainable way forward” for both the company and the industry.

(SM)