The country’s two most powerful trade unions will walk hand in hand this week, as the threat of a national strike hangs over the island.

The largest private sector union, the Barbados Workers Union (BWU) said it would throw its full weight behind the largest public sector representative body, the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), in the ongoing dispute with the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC), over the retrenchment of 10 workers who have reached the age of 60.

The BWU held a two-hour meeting at its Solidarity House headquarters, Harmony Hall, St. Michael, this evening, at which the executive council updated the packed audience on “what had transpired” and discussed support for the NUPW. Following the meeting, General Secretary Toni Moore kept the union’s plans close to her chest.

Members of the Barbados Workers’ Union meeting at Solidarity House this evening.

“The executive council of the BWU called a meeting of its committees of management across its 208 divisions for this evening because the immediate matter of our support to the NUPW in its impasse with the BIDC preoccupied our attention, and we needed to update our divisions on what had transpired so far. This was done to obtain the support of our divisions for action. This action will be taken, not only in support of the NUPW, but action will be taken in abhorrence to the approaches that we have been seeing creeping into our system of industrial relations, not only by the government in this case, but generally,” Moore said.

The BWU boss told reporters that during the meeting the committees of management  indicated their “strong support” for industrial action to be pursued this week. She added that there were a number of suggestions and the union would determine how the proposed action would have its greatest impact.

BWU General Secretary Toni Moore and her Deputy General Secretary Dwaine Paul at today’s meeting.

Responding to reports that the NUPW was about to escalate industrial action, Moore stressed that the BWU’s meeting was not convened specifically to deal with what the NUPW wanted, but was about the support the BWU could lend.

“We at the BWU have determined the level of support that can be given in this situation. The meeting was not exclusively about the support, but the BWU family wants to demonstrate its abhorrence to the approaches that have been undertaken in this matter with the BIDC, approaches that are also replicated in the private sector more generally. We will outline to the NUPW what has come out of this meeting, and the BWU will be engaging in industrial action this week, once there is no resolution to the immediate matter before us.”

Moore claimed, that the labour movement was being disrespected, and the union was saying enough was enough.

With Barbados facing the likelihood of a general strike this week, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley told a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) public meeting at Providence, Christ Church last night she was in possession of evidence of intimidation of public sector workers.

Additionally, she told the crowd that the issue, which had contributed to the present deteriorating industrial relations climate — the recent early retirement of 10 state-run Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) employees — could be easily solved by a Cabinet decision.

However, she accused Prime Minister Freundel Stuart of avoiding the issue and allowing the Minister of Labour Dr Esther Byer to fly out to New York over this weekend to save her from another failure on the industrial relations front.

Mottley noted that trade unions were not yet seeking pay raises on behalf of workers, or pursuing “broken promises of duty-free cars and interest-free mortgages”.  “They are (only) asking for workers security of tenure to be protected,” she said.

Brandishing a document, the Opposition Leader spoke of an occurrence following the one-day protest march through the City last Monday.

Opposition leader Mia Mottley

“That a letter could come from within a ministry asking . . .  to identify the names of all public officers who attended the protest march on July 6, 2015, is not only regressive, but you will have the likes of national heroes who fought for workers’ rights in this country, [Sir] Frank Walcott, [Sir] Hugh Springer, and [Sir] Grantley Adams, rolling in their graves.”

She said these national heroes would find it unbelievable “that a modern Government, almost 50 years after Independence, conceives to intimidate workers, asking for their names when all they are doing is that which the Constitution of Barbados guarantees them to [do]: associate on behalf of the workers of this country”.

Throughout the current industrial dispute, BLP spokespersons have said it was a matter for the unions and the employers, and their role was to support the workers. However, in light of the alleged intimidation, Mottley vowed last night to take the BLP’s involvement further.

“I say that if this intimidation starts, you will see and feel the full force of the Barbados Labour Party in this country. We are not going to tolerate it. This party was founded on the principle of workers’ rights . . . . There are too many people who walked with Grantley Adams and all of the others to bring rights to your grandparents, and great-grandparents and parents when they couldn’t do anything to protect themselves in this country,” she said.

Mottley went on: “Do you understand that all that is required is for the Cabinet of Barbados to meet and . . . tell the Minister of Industry that this Government will not discriminate against people on the basis of age?”

“I have authority to speak on this matter because I was the one who led the [parliamentary] debate in 2004 that sought to harmonize the retirement age of people in statutory boards with the one in the private sector and under the National Insurance Scheme. And we said then that we needed to delay the age from 65 to 67 and we would do it over a period of time.

“The section that was left for the statutory boards to send home an individual at 60 was never intended to send home a class of persons and, in this case, a class of persons across every department of the IDC, connected only by age. That is wrong and that is discriminatory.”

Mottley criticized Prime Minister Freundel Stuart for so far adopting a hands-off approach to the matter. She referred to his July 4 statement at a CARICOM press conference that he was not invited to mediate in the dispute, and was not going to “inject” himself into the matter.

“When he told the country he does not inject himself, I really had to laugh . . . . He couldn’t be for real,” Mottley said.

“You have a strike that threatens to shut down this whole country, and you goin’ talk bout you ain’t injecting yourself in the process.”

The Opposition Leader then turned her attention to the Minister of Labour, Dr Esther Byer, who previous speakers at the meeting said was in the US despite the tension of industrial action in Barbados. Photos of Byer, presumably in New York, were posted on a jumbo screen at the rally.

Mottley said, “Mercifully, she has been sent abroad to save the unions and workers and Barbados from her perfect record of failure because she has not yet solved a single labour dispute in this country. So she may do better entertaining the friends of DLP in New York.”

Private haulers say they were taken by “surprise” by news that the controversial tipping fee had been waived and were awaiting clarification from Minister of Environment Dr Denis Lowe.

Managing Director of Simpson Trucking and Skip Services, Charles Read

“It’s come to us as a bit of a surprise. I don’t know whether it is to facilitate the clean up or whether it is for a group of people involved in cleaning. I am not really sure,” Managing Director of Simpson Trucking and Skip Services Charles Read told Barbados TODAY.

Over the weekend, Lowe announced on state television the waiver of the tipping fee, in response to the ongoing strike by unionized workers at the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA).

The strike,which has resulted in unsightly pile ups of garbage all across the country, is now into its fourth day.

“ . . . For the time being, we are creating that facility for persons who are willing to come forward [and help],” said Lowe in announcing the waiver.

However, Read said the Waste Haulers Association was unsure about the details of the waiver.

“I know that a couple of guys made calls to the SBRC [Sustainable Barbados Recycling Centre] . . . to make sure that the tipping fee is still in place, so I am not sure who exactly it applies to or the length of time its suspended for,” Read explained.

But he said the association would welcome the waiver if it applied to them.

“It’s always a welcomed move. You know our position on the tipping fee. It’s a burden on us and it is impacting on some sectors within the waste haulers group. It is having a very negative impact on our industry, so it would be a very welcomed move,” he said.

Back in May when the tipping fee was first introduced, waste haulers staged over a week of protests in an unsuccessful attempt to get the Government to scrap the levy.

A scene from May’s protest action by waste haulers.

Subsequently it was announced during the June 15 Budget presentation that the haulers would be required to register with the SSA and pay an annual licence fee, as well as produce a tax clearance certificate from the Barbados Revenue Authority.

Dave Hinds, the Chief Financial Officer of Hinds Transport, said he was not sure about the latest development.

“I find the suspension to be interesting because when we were having discussions, he [Lowe] said it was impossible. So I don’t know if he has gone to Cabinet and gotten an approval there, I don’t know.

“I don’t know if I am happy or unhappy. At the last Budget they promised that the fee was going to be reduced to $40 per load [but] that hasn’t happened, so I don’t know if it is happening . . . I am waiting to see what is happening. I’m withholding my enthusiasm,” Hinds said.

Meantime, Read revealed that the private haulers had been filling in the gap and picking up garbage as SSA workers continue their strike action.

“I think some of them have been helping with the critical places like the police, hospital and so on, but I think generally we are ready to help once the strike is over. I think they would be willing to help in a more structured manner, but that’s not our decision. That’s the decision of the SSA and to what extent they want to employ private resources,” he maintained.

Help might soon be on its way for the short-staffed and financially strapped Child Care Board (CCB).

Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett told Barbados TODAY this morning, he would soon meet with the local representatives of the United Nations child’s rights agency, UNICEF, to examine the details of technical and other assistance, that it has offered to the board.

Minister of Constituency Empowerment and Social Care, Steve Blackett

“They have offered assistance, [but] what the assistance is at this stage, I am not absolutely sure.

“But once we have met with them, I will be able to spell it out in detail. But we have had help offered to us by UNICEF,” Blackett said.

The Minister said the Government would welcome the much-needed help.

“We are working with limited resources and within financial constraints. The 600 cases that we are dealing with today are 600 new cases. This has nothing to do with the old cases that we are still pursuing,” he explained.

In recent weeks, the CCB has been the subject of much criticism and public ridicule following the deaths of Shemar Weekes, 12, of Fryers Well, Checker Hall, St Lucy and six-year-old Jahan King, who died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on June 28, after being rushed there by his mother, Lasonta Gill.

Jahan’s maternal grandmother, Margaret Gill, has blamed the CCB for his death, saying the board failed to act despite receiving information that the child was being abused, a charge the CCB has denied. Chairman Kenneth Knight has also complained of a lack of adequate resources to cope with the up to 700 child abuse cases that go before the board annually.  

The Barbados Vocational Training Board (BVTB) will soon be getting a spanking new, state-of-the-art facility.

BVTB director Henderson Thompson broke the news of the joint venture –– which will be undertaken by the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic (SJPP), the Barbados Community College (BCC) and the BVTB –– over the weekend.

Minister of Finance Chris Sincker (left) speaking to Barbados Vocational Training Board director Henderson Thompson.

“What we have been doing is realizing that we need to rationalize what we do at the BVTB, the SJPP and the BCC. So we’ve entered into these discussions on how we are going to get our young people [moving] . . . . So we’re now working together, and you are going to see some more exciting programmes coming on stream.

“The Government will give us some land, and we will develop an institution that will be the envy of many –– large facilities which will have simulators . . . which will be exciting and make learning more fun,” Thompson revealed while speaking at the Lawson Weekes Educational Scholarship Programme at Almond Bay on Saturday.

The use of simulators, the BVTB director said, would help to reduce the cost of training students in certain areas.

“What those simulators do for us is . . . reduce the cost of operating the current equipment that we have at the BVTB,” he explained.

“When we have the truck, we teach young people how to drive heavy-duty, but when that truck breaks down, currently we have to send the students home until the truck is repaired. So we decided we can no longer operate like that, because we need to keep our young people in training, and keep them turning over and keep them moving.”

Mediators are already having a positive impact on the local judicial system, mere weeks after they have started working.

Operating under the Court Annexed Mediation Pilot Project, their introduction within the court system is aimed at bringing alternative dispute resolution to certain matters which come before the courts.

For this option to be pursued, it must be with the agreement of the parties involved in the matter.

Mediators so far have been attached to the High Courts, as well as the Oistins, District C, D and Holetown Magistrates’ Courts, with the expectation of a full roll-out by September.

According to sitting District ‘C’ Magistrate Christopher Birch, “so far the mediators are working exceedingly well”.

Asked how the process has helped so far, Birch explained that “it has taken away the adversarial nature of the legal process and has substituted a more conciliatory approach.”

Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson has referred to the mediation process as “a method designed to change the way we do business in the courts.”

Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson

He explained that the mediators were still undergoing training, which is being led by attorney-at-law Dawn Shields-Searle.

A new multi-million dollar hospice and palliative care facility is to be constructed here to provide “a pain-free, peaceful, dignified transition” for the sick and terminally ill.

The 14-bed facility will be built at St David’s, Christ Church at a cost of $4 million, through the efforts of the Barbados Association for Cancer Advocacy (BACA) and the Living Water Community Inc (LWC), a Port of Spain-based Catholic Lay Community which operates hospices in Trinidad.

The two organizations said in a press release yesterday that the project would begin next year and was expected to be completed in 2017.

“Central to this agreement is the concept that human beings deserve the right to palliative care that permits a pain-free, peaceful, dignified transition.

“BACA, LWC and other stakeholders recognize that the aging of the Barbados population, the increase in chronic non communicable diseases, limited home palliative care options and the lack of such a facility on the island are factors that make a stand-alone hospice a desirable option,” the release said.

It noted that the Barbados Palliative Care Needs Assessment Project’s 2012 report recommended that a stand-alone hospice be part of the palliative care offerings in Barbados, and added that fundraising for the home would be spearheaded by Barbados Diaspora Collaborative USA (BDC USA), a not-for-profit United States organization, in conjunction with domestic and international stakeholders.

BACA is the local arm of Barbados Cancer Association USA (BACA) Inc. Over its 10-year history, BACA has provided support for cancer related services in Barbados through significant funding for early detection, scholarship support, research and the provision of medical equipment, the organization said.

According to the release, the idea for a Hospice was first proposed by BACA at a January 2011 meeting of leaders of Barbados organizations in New York, held at the Consulate General of Barbados under the auspices of then Consul General, Lennox Price.

LWC was founded in 1975 and provides ministries to the poor, homeless, abused, dying, drug addicted and illiterate in Trinidad and around the region, the release stated.

It added that LWC has operated hospices in Trinidad since 1983, and as such would bring over 30 years of expertise to the Barbados hospice.

’[It] will be assisted by a pool of trained volunteers in the day to day operation of the [Barbados] hospice,’ the release concluded.

A 35-year-old unemployed man has pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of cannabis.

Ramon Fabian Chase of # 54 Hillside, Gall Hill Christ Church, appeared before acting magistrate Elwood Watts today to answer the July 12 charge.

This is the second offence of that nature for Chase, who is known to the court.

He was ordered to pay $250 forthwith or spend the next seven days in jail.

The money was paid.

Barbados’ two major trade unions, the Barbados Workers Union (BWU) and the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) have hit back at the Freundel Stuart administration, blaming the Government for the “current instability” in the country’s industrial relations climate.

Stuart led a stinging attack on the unions yesterday, comparing them to “fanatics with guns” and accussing them of adopting bullying and blackmail tactics in the row between the NUPW and the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) over the forced retirement of ten employees who have reached the age of 60.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart

The unions have hit back, claiming that  the administration’s “reluctance to engage in meaningful consultation” with the workers representatives has contributed “in no small measure” for the volatile atmosphere.

In a joint press release issued today, the two unions, which had threatened to shut down the country with a general strike, charged that a number of vexing issues, including “a breakdown in respect; a failure to consult; and a breach of the Barbados Social Partnership protocols and the rules underpinning the time-tested industrial relations of Barbados” have led them to this point.

The top brass of the NUPW and BWU standing in solidarity.

The two unions claimed that in June, 2013, a tripartite commitment was agreed for “full consultation” during the  retrenchment of workers in an attempt to reduce the negative impact on working families. They said a document outlining the Government’s policy on managing the retrenchment process was circulated but that too was not followed.

“This breach of faith was most glaring in the retrenchment exercise carried out at the Drainage Unit, the National Housing Corporation, the National Conservation Commisssion (NCC) and the Transport Board,” the country’s largest private and public sector unions said in their release, adding that in the cases of the NCC and the Transport Board, the consultations had begun but the process by Government departments was interrupted with “unilateral actions” to make workers redundant before final agreement was reached.

“To date these two matters remain unresolved before the Employment Rights Tribunal. Up to now neither the naysayers nor the Government have addressed the tremendous pain and suffering that the retrenched workers have undergone,” the release stated.

They dismissed the Prime Minister’s accusation of bullying, blackmail and breach of process, suggesting the administration should look in the mirror.

“Even now, while unions are being accused of applying bullying tactics and not following the process, the Government has further provoked the situation, adding insult to injury, by issuing option forms to workers at the Customs Department. This is being done even while consultations are still on-going and where commitments have been made by the Government to resolve all outstanding issues before moving to this step,”the BWU and NUPW stated in the release.

“Who really is the bully?  Who has breached the process? Who has shown disrespect?”

The unions stressed that at no time have they said that there should be no lay-offs, but they have insisted that public sector restructuring should not be done adopting “backdoor approaches”. They complained of “unfortunate statements” made in recent times by Government officials and more recently, the Barbados Light and Power Company Limited, which they said had the potential to undermine the trade union movement and its tradition of voluntarism.

Issuing a stern warning to employers in both sectors, the unions said: “Workers of Barbados will therefore need to make a strong statement that such approaches have no place in our industrial relations system; there must be an expressed commitment to consultation; decisions must be people-centred and the workers who have built this countrymust be respected.”

However, they offered a hint of conciliation by assuring employers that they remained commited to the “least painful resolutions” to the impasse with the BIDC, adding that the statutory board’s offer of an extension of payment until December addresses a part of the issue.

The unions had threatened a national strike on Wednesday or Thursday if the impasse was not resolved by then.

An emotional funeral service was held today for Abijah Ijestic Holder-Phillips, who died in a car accident on June 26 on his way home from his school graduation.

Shortly after the boy’s mother, Felisha Holder, delivered a moving eulogy, speaking gloriously about her dead son, the boy’s clearly upset father took to the podium and accused Holder of failing to allow him to speak at the service, which was being held at Coral Ridge Memorial Chapel.

Felisha Holder delivering the eulogy.

His tirade lasted less than a minute, as the sound system was turned off,  and his “brethren” who were in charge of the service asked him to take his seat.

That did not go down well with the angry father who, followed by some members of the congregation, walked out, complaining loudly that he felt disrespected.

It was just about 1p.m. by then, and, with the service over, the pall-bearers hurriedly carried the white casket, with a blue and white satin interior, to the burial site.

Sergeants of the Church of Haile Selassie 1st carrying the casket from the Chapel
to the gravesite.

There, the father had to be calmed down once by family members and friends, and at one time had to be restrained, as he again vented his frustration.

Abijah’s father being restrained by some of his brethren.

Meanwhile, the more composed mother,  comforted by loved ones, stood quietly some distance from Phillips, and ensured the burial continued, despite the loud murmurs and chattering voices commenting on what had transpired.

Minutes later the police arrived with sirens blaring, and had a conversation with Holder. It was not immediately clear what they discussed, but soon after their arrival, the tension eased, and the father requested, and was granted, an opportunity to speak.

In his brief remarks, the grieving dad thanked those who turned up to pay their last respects to his son, and apologized for his behaviour. However, he again complained of being treated with disrespect.

“I am grateful for everything that you all have done. I give so much thanks and praises. All I did want to say is something pertaining to my son’s passing.

“It was pure disrespect to sound a voice pertaining to my son and the [micro]phone get shut down from before me. The people that do it supposed to be my brothers and sisters. It ain’t no person that ain’t got no locks, and that is disrespect,” he said, before offering a prayer.

Abijah received an unusual funeral in the form of a Rastafarian ritual that included chanting and the burning of incense. The priest and members of his church covered their heads with black cloth, while some of the men wore the rastafarian colours.   

Before delivering the eloquent eulogy, Holder told the mourners who crammed the chapel, she was aware that what they had witnessed was unusual, but the rites and worship ceromony was one of rejoicing for her “sun” who had lived a perfect life of unconditional love for “man, animal and all living things on earth”.

She described the former Welches Primary School student – whose schoolmates sang two selections at the service – as inquisitive, saying he did not hold back his many questions about nature.

Students of Welches Primary School singing ‘See You Again’ for their deceased friend Abijah.

Holder, who was driving the car when the accident occurred, said Abijah was very close to his teenaged sister, Ibrel, who was injured in the same accident.

With Ibrel sitting in a wheelchair in the audience, Holder said the siblings were always in each other’s company, and could be found “talking up a storm” or wearing each other’s clothing.

She spoke of Abijah’s “sound knowledge” of plants which often meant giving advice about what could be used for colds, or what leaf his teacher could place beneath her desk to drive away mosquitoes.

“I will miss his face and his smile and his warmth and his kindness, [and his] love. Even though I used to be quarreling about the caterpillars in the bottle and the lizards that he catch, I will miss everything about him,” said the mother, who insisted that death was finite, and that her tears were not of mourning.

Abijah Holder

She said she wished she was able to see her son grow into a good, loving man, but at the same time, noted that he had lived a good life.

“Let us imagine that Abijah has just gone away physically, because that is all really that it is. His spirit lives in our memories and our hearts. I know that is what it will be for me because I was the person . . .  at the football matches, everything.”

At the gravesite, the mother released two doves and, side by side, they soared, until they disappeared.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb

Today’s go-slow by Customs and Immigration officers had contrasting effects on the island’s critical ports of entry.

The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) announced yesterday that employees of the Customs and Immigration department at both the air and sea ports would begin a go-slow today, joining striking sanitation workers in industrial action over the forced retirement of ten Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) staffers, who have reached the age of 60.

At the Bridgetown Port, the industrial action affected the delivery of cargo, with Chief Executive Officer of Barbados Port Inc. David Jean-Marie revealing that the slow rate of delivery had caused a major backlog.

The Bridgetown Port

“The Customs have slowed down the processing of documents to the extent that we are only able to deliver two containers per hour, when the normal rate is in the region of 20 per hour. So clearly, there is a backlog,” Jean-Marie told Barbados TODAY.

He also said he was concerned that the industrial action would have adverse effects on the port and the country if it continued for much longer.

“This will impact on the supply of goods to the country and the [port upgrade] project that is ongoing. So this is not something that we could sustain on a long-term basis; so we would obviously wish to see it solved. But we are at work. The port is open and until now, we want to work,” the CEO said.

Jean-Marie reported better news with regards to cruise vessels, telling Barbados TODAY that those ships were being serviced “so far”.

By contrast, it was business as usual at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA), with officials reporting no adverse effects.

Arriving passengers experienced no unusual delays at Customs or Immigration despite the fact that three flights had landed within minutes of each other.

During much of the day, operations appeared quiet with nothing out-of-the ordinary evident. The only exception  was a meeting between a team of senior police officers and management of the airport.

One senior police officer said the meeting was to discuss contingency plans “just in case something happens”.

“You can never tell what can happen. If anything happens, we will be ready. But right now, we don’t have anybody on standby,” said the officer, who spoke to Barbados TODAY on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak.

GAIA Corporate Communications Officer Keith Goddard said the airport authorities had been monitoring operations throughout the day, and there was no disruption in travel in or out of the island.

Goddard also said there were no unusual changes to the way business was conducted, but that authorities would continue to monitor the situation.

Wayne Richard Headley, an electrical student whose address was given as Welchman Hall, St Thomas, was fined $750 in one week, with the alternative of a week in prison, after admitting that he had a flick knife in his possession at the Bridge Street branch of Burger King last Saturday. The fine was paid.

According to the facts which Sergeant Theodore McClean presented before acting Magistrate Elwood Watts in a Bridgetown court yesterday, Daniel Clarke, a security guard, saw Headley sitting in the fast food restaurant. He approached Headley and told him if he was not a paying customer, he would have to leave.

Headley moved from that seat to another. Clarke went to him a second time and repeated his request. It was then that Headley allegedly pulled a knife and threatened to stab the guard. When the police arrived, a flick knife was found in his possession.

Headley told acting Magistrate Watts that he was pursuing electrical studies and even though he was not working last Saturday, he had the bag in which he carries the knife with him but never takes it out. He said he had gone into Burger King to use its free WiFi, just as others do, but the guard came to him.

He recalled Clarke asking him if he was waiting on anybody and when he replied “no”, the guard informed him that he could not “lime” there. He therefore got up, purchased a drink and told the guard: “I am now a customer so I won’t have to leave.”

Headley said the guard then became very angry and began removing his baton. Headley said he told the guard: “If you put your hands on me, I will use any force necessary to defend myself.” Headley said he told the guard that loudly, until a cashier intervened and asked the guard to relax himself since Headley had bought something.

The convicted man said he never pulled the knife on Clarke nor threatened to stab him.

Referring to two previous convictions against Headley that included threats, acting Magistrate Watts said he was reluctant to send a student to prison but Headley had proven to be “a hard ears student”.

“Mr Headley, you can’t walk around threatening people, you hear me? And a security officer at that,” the magistrate remarked.

In a dramatic last minute shift, the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) has withdrawn the vexing retirement letters sent to ten employees who have reached aged 60, and which have led to a bitter fight with the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW).

The NUPW, which has the support of the Barbados Workers Union (BWU), embarked on limited industrial action – sanitation workers have been on strike since the middle of last week, while customs and immigration officers went on go-slow today – and had threatened to escalate the action if the BIDC had not met its demands.

The union had demanded a withdrawal of the letters and  reinstatement of the workers. However, the state-owned entity was adamant that it would not back down.

But with the country on the brink of a potentially crippling national strike, the unions held a joint press conference at the NUPW headquarters on Dalkeith Road, St Michael, late this evening to announce that the statutory agency had relented and would rescind the letters and recall the retired employees.

“This is a victory for all workers of Barbados,” BWU General Secretary Toni Moore said of the decision.

From left, NUPW’s general secretary, Roslyn Smith, president Akanni McDowall and BWU’s general secretary Toni Moore at this evening’s press conference.

“Special thanks go out to our members and workers generally who gave flesh to the mantra that Unity is Strength. We also thank the workers for pledging their firm and ongoing support to the leadership of the trade union movement . . . . We must also thank the Barbados Social Partnership, the Subcommittee, for reminding all employers  – the Government and other stakeholders –  that it remains, and must be used, as the engine of industrial stability.

“The unions have strongly demonstrated our continued commitment to ensuring that the well being of the working class is protected and that no worker feels disadvantaged. We are ever conscious that these are the times that try men’s souls. This obstacle has therefore reaffirmed that within the trade union movement unity is not only possible, but unity is alive and well,” Moore added.

NUPW President Akanni Mc Dowall told reporters that he hoped today’s decision would inform all other decisions of Government and all statutory boards planning to retire sexagenarians who had not yet reached age 67, revealing that letters had been sent to workers at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), who are approaching the retirement age.

“With today’s precedent, unions are therefore calling on the Government to rescind the letters to the QEH and Customs Department employees and to workers employed by any other Government-run organization that we may not have heard to date,”he said.

Earlier this afternoon, there were signs that a resolution was near when Minister of Labour Dr Esther Byer announced that the BIDC had put “a firm offer” on the table during a four-hour meeting of the Social Partnership Sub-Committee at the Lloyd Erskine Sandirford Centre.

While Dr Byer, who chaired the meeting, declined to say give details of the offer, she said the NUPW had promised to respond by tomorrow.

“We had the input of everybody at the table and we now have a firm offer that has been put on the table from BIDC to the NUPW. The NUPW has indicated that they need now to go back to their council . . . They did say by tomorrow we would have a response from them,” said an optimistic Dr Byer.

“So there is an offer on the table. An offer that has not been rejected, and has been given in good faith, and looked at in good faith, and will now be reviewed by their council and their partners, and whoever else they have to go to.”

Dr Byer suggested that a national strike threatened by the NUPW and the BWU had influenced the BIDC’s decision. The two unions indicated yesterday that they would shut down the country either tomorrow or on Thursday.

Minister of Labour Esther Byer

“We have partners who are not satisfied [with] a state of industrial disharmony that is escalating, or can escalate. If we decide we are going to close our airport and seaport, and our cruise ships can’t come in and help to boost the economy in the way that it does when they come and spend, those are things that affect everyone of us. And that is why we had the response here today,” she said.

Stressing that the current situation was unsustainable, the Minister of Labour said she was concerned that any escalation in industrial action could ultimately lead to more layoffs.

“If this is an action that is protracted then you could see companies saying, ‘listen I am not making payroll so I am going to have to put you on short time until this thing settles, or I might have to lay you off’.

“In the end more people will suffer. The irony of it being that the people at the BIDC who were retired are actually getting their money up until September 30. But everybody else would be affected negatively,” the Minister said, adding that both sides were willing to “come closer” and have the issue resolved.

However, McDowall told reporters that an agreement was reached to withdrawn the letters, and the workers would remain as full employees of the BIDC. He further disclosed that dates would be set for meetings between the BIDC and the NUPW.

The trade unionist said the BIDC committed to full disclosure, allowing for consultations to take place within the context of Section 6:13 and 6:14 of Protocol V1 of the Barbados Social Partnership, and Section 31 of the Employment Rights Act.

McDowall told reporters that the BIDC also agreed not to take the matter to court,  and stressed that the system of voluntarism would remain sacred and intact.

NUPW Acting General Secretary Roslyn Smith announced that due to today’s agreement, tomorrow’s planned shutdown had been cancelled.

When contacted following this evening’s announcement by the unions, the Minister of Labour appeared more guarded about an agreement.

While saying that no one had gotten back to her, she told Barbados TODAY she was pleased that the NUPW had accepted the latest offer.

However, Dr Byer took issue with the NUPW’s statement that the ten contentious letters had been withdrawn, saying it was not the correct language to use.

Instead, she suggested it would be more appropriate to say “the BIDC offered not to act on the letters”, but was willing to meet with the union as early as tomorrow to discuss all the challenges being experienced by the corporation and to work out a longer term solution.

“The offer the BIDC put on the table was that the BIDC would not act on the letters that they had issued to the ten retirees; and those retirees, those ten persons would remain as full employees,” Dr Byer stressed.

Government’s agreement with Cahill Energy to build a waste-to-energy plant may come to naught, according to retired Chief Town Planner Leonard St Hill, who contends the proposed project has no legal standing.

St Hill brought home this sobering point to an agitated group of Barbadians assembled in the auditorium of the Lester Vaughan Secondary School last night. They were there to hear presentations and partake in discussions on the dangers posed to people and the landscape if the controversial project goes ahead.

Retired Chief Town Planner, Leonard St Hill 

“What is striking about a proposal which has reached an agreement stage is that it has no footing in law,” St Hill said of the project for which Government has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the proposed builders, owners and operators.

St Hill, along with visiting American scientist-turned environmental activist Professor Paul Connett, and alternative energy campaigner Mark Hill, comprised a panel that initiated the discussions.

The former chief town planer and civil engineer said there was a number of steps ending with parliamentary approval that were legally required before the project could get lawful consideration, but none had been taken so far.

“Without that, all this talk about waste to energy plant at Vaucluse, is science fiction,” he said.

“This discussion therefore, educational as it is, presents us with an opportunity to be aware of the facts, and those facts which may be presented at the public enquiry when objections and representations may be made.”

St Hill spoke of the Town and Country Planning Act which requires approved development plans for use of all areas of the island. He said following a number of steps involving the office of the Chief Town Planner and an advisory committee, then public discussions, there must be approval by resolution in both houses of Parliament before the project gets the go-ahead.

Some members of the audience at Lester Vaughan School Monday night.

“The proposal for this waste-to-energy plant constitutes a proposal for the amendment of the development plan, which has a specific process,” St Hill said. “An application has to be made, and because the application involves more than two acres of the conversion of land allocated for agricultural use, this proposal has to be referred to the minister responsible for Town and Country Planning, advised by an Advisory Committee of not less than nine consultants in specialised areas for roads, buildings and other structures, community planning, amenities, public utilities, sports and communications.”

St Hill said the application had to be processed by the Town and Country Planning Advisory Committee as the designated authority appointed by the minister for the purpose. He pointed out: “That committee, at this date, or just before this date, did not exist for three years.”

After outlining the entire required process –– none of which he said has been followed –– St Hill concluded: “We’ve reached the stage, therefore, where all this talk about waste-to-energy proposal, or plan, cannot begin until the proposal has been presented as an application for an amendment of the Development Plan, the Town and Country Advisory Committee has examined the proposal against the background of the criteria through amendment, a public enquiry has been instituted and, at that public enquiry, the kind of discussion that we are having here would take place.”

He continued: “The report of the public enquiry is then tabled in the House of Assembly and the amendment of the Development Plan, which is that proposal for the waste-to-energy plant, would then be decided by resolution of both houses of Parliament, the Assembly and the Senate, on the basis of the enquiry conducted, appointed by the minister according to law.”

The $700 million investment needed to get the Cahill waste-to-energy plant operational could instead be used to purchase solar energy storage facilities to supply more than half of Barbados with electricity nightly.

Mark Hill, alternative energy campaigner and founder of solar energy company Innogen, put forward this suggestion last night at a town hall meeting which discussed the dangers of the proposed waste incinerator plant, for which Government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Cahill Energy.

Alternative energy campaigner, Mark Hill

American scientist-turned environmental activist, Professor Paul Connett, and retired Chief Town Planner, Leonard St Hill, joined Hill to comprise a panel which led off the discussion at the Lester Vaughan Secondary School.

“Barbados can run 100 per cent [off] the sun and wind combined. We do not need to use this technology to supply our power,” Hill said to loud applause.

“Right now, at the price of energy, the investment value [of the project] can go to producing almost 250 gigawatts hours of storage. That money planned to be spent on the plant can be spent on storage which can actually power 60 to 70 per cent of our island needs at night,” Hill said.

“We really need to rethink our energy strategy,” he added.

The opposition spokesman on health has called for the Psychiatric Hospital to be condemned and reconstructed.

However, Shadow Minister of Health Dr Maria Agard has acknowledged that the Government was broke and unable to afford a new hospital, so she would settle for refurbishment of the Black Rock, St Michael institution.

Her comments to Barbados TODAY came in the wake of a two-day sickout last week by nurses at the mental institution to draw attention to several “longstanding” issues, including work conditions.

Shadow Minister of Health Dr Maria Agard

“Let us be reasonable. We know that we do not have any additional resources at this time to offer a recommendation for the abandonment of that building and to build a new psychiatric hospital. What is required right now is a refurbishment of the hospital. But the Government needs to take a serious look at the conditions. I do not even believe that they are making the effort at this time,” Dr Agard contended.

“It is unfortunate that the staff there found it necessary to take this kind of action because obviously they are caring for some of the more vulnerable people in the nation. But on the other hand, it is their right to work in favourable conditions, good conditions, and at this time the Psychiatric Hospital is to be condemned…it is in a sorry state,” she claimed.

The Opposition parliamentarian said she was aware there were plans to refurbish the hospital’s kitchen, therefore she would allow the Government time to “put their house in order”. However, the parliamentary representative for Christ Church West said Government needed to place the hospital on its priory list.

“Certainly it needs to be a priority. When you are grappling with scarce resources, certain issues need to take priority – and I believe that health is as critical as your security – and therefore health must command your attention,” Dr Agard pointed out.

The Barbados economy grew by half of one per cent during the first half of the year, primarily due to a good performance by the key tourism industry and remains on course to achieving projected overall growth of one per cent for 2015.

Central Bank Governor Dr DeLisle Worrell made the disclosures today in a video statement reviewing the island’s economic performance. Looking ahead over the next three years, he said growth should continue on an upward trend, rising within a range of two to 2.5 per cent annually over the period in question.

Dr DeLisle Worrell

“Tourism and construction should be the main drivers. Recent efforts to enhance the tourism product and enrich the visitor experience are beginning to take effect,” said Dr Worrell, one of the Freundel Stuart Government’s key economic advisors.

He noted: “Public sector investment projects already underway and projected over the next three years total $567 million. Private investment in hotels and tourism-related projects over the same period, are expected to be about $2 billion. The growth of green-energy production has the potential to accelerate the overall growth rate, if installation can be ramped up significantly.”

Worrell also reported that measures outlined by Government in the recent Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals had led to an adjustment of the forecasted deficit target from six per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) to around four per cent of GDP for the current financial year 2015/2016.

In fact, during the first three months of the current financial year which started on April 1, he said the fiscal deficit was down to $221 million because of significant spending cuts.

“Total expenditure fell by approximately $4 million. Spending on goods and services decreased by $14 million, and wages and salaries fell by $2 million. There was no increase in transfer to public institutions,” he pointed out.

However, Dr Worrell reported that interest payments and outlays on capital expenditure had risen by an estimated $8 million and $12 million, respectively. Meanwhile, total revenue was lower by $33 million and Value Added Tax (VAT) and personal tax receipts fell by $14 million and $22 million, respectively.

At the end of June, the foreign reserves stood at $968 million or 14.4 weeks of import cover, down from 16.1 weeks at the end of March 2015.

“The foreign exchange market was almost in balance, with a slight dip in reserves recorded during the second quarter,” said Worrell.

“Foreign exchange outflows fell by $60 million, primarily because of lower fuel costs. Payments for fuel imports were $171 million lower than for the same period last year. Private capital inflows for the first half of 2015 were $372 million higher than the average for 2008 to 2013,” he added.

Worrell said the financing of Government for the April to June period of the current fiscal year was predominantly provided by the Central Bank and commercial banks to the tune of $140 million and $113 million, respectively.

He also stated that the strong demand by private individuals for recently issued Government savings bonds had demonstrated “a renewed confidence in government security”.

“With an increase of $89 million in excess liquidity, in the form of commercial banks’ reserves on deposit at the Central Bank, the net effect from the Central Bank financing was an increase in money created of $51 million,” revealed Worrell.

“The successful relaunch of the Government savings bonds programme in June this year brought funding of $40 million by June 30, while the National Insurance Scheme funding of the deficit remained virtually unchanged. The net public sector debt was equivalent to 67 per cent of GDP at the end of June, two percentage points lower than the corresponding period one year prior,” said Worrell.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

A St Michael man was not required to plead to having articles with him – those articles being a ski mask and a pair of gloves – to be used in connection with robbery or theft on Monday.

Ryan Andre Smith, a 33-year-old labourer of Storey Gap, Codrington Road, today appeared before Acting Magistrate Elwood Watts, who read the charge to him in the District ‘A’ Traffic Court.

Prosecuting Station Sergeant Neville Watson objected to bail for Smith. He noted the accused had four previous convictions and was already on bail on charges related to firearm and assault offences.

Watson also contended Smith had “not paid homage to the sanctity of bail and is back before the court today.”

Defence attorney Romain Marshall told the court that according to what his client had told him, both matters had been dismissed some time ago.

Even if they were not dismissed, Marshall submitted, they “should not be held over the accused’s head with regard to a matter which allegedly occurred this week”.

Marshall also said Smith was gainfully employed, the father of two and a good candidate for bail.

After hearing arguments, Acting Magistrate Watts granted the accused $5,000 bail and adjourned the matter until September 15.

Police and task force officers had to be called to the headquarters of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) this evening after a top official received a suspicious envelope.

The envelope, addressed to Acting General Secretary Roslyn Smith, was reportedly opened by a member of her administrative staff and was found to contain a white powdery substance, NUPW President Akanni McDowall told Barbados TODAY.

This prompted the officials, who were said to be meeting at the time, to summon emergency officials, including the fire and ambulance service.

The scene at NUPW headquarters tonight.

Emergency ambulance services were called to the NUPW headquarters where an official received a suspicious package containing a white powdery substance.

Up to 9 p.m. tonight, NUPW officials were still on lockdown in the building awaiting the all clear. Police who had cordoned off the area were not allowing anyone to either enter or leave the compound.

An upset Acting Assistant General Secretary Wayne Walrond said he was “shocked” with the development, which he described as nothing short of “intimidatory tactics”.

Walrond, who was among a group of about a dozen NUPW officials “quarantined” in the building, also revealed that several private individuals who were attending a function at the NUPW headquarters, were stuck as well.

Asked if he felt it could be the poisonous substance anthrax, Waldrond said neither the NUPW officials nor the police currently had any clue as to where the package originated or the exact substance it contained.

The development comes amid ongoing tensions between the labour movement and the Government over the vexing issue retrenchments.

Just last night, the NUPW and the Barbados Workers Union called off a planned national strike after reporting that Government had agreed to rescind recent termination letters issues to ten BIDC workers.

However, this prompted an immediate response from Minister of Labour Dr Esther Byer, who suggested that the matter was far from settled.

In a two-page statement earlier today, she explained that during yesterday’s meeting of the Social Partnership Sub-Committee, which she chaired, an offer was made by the BIDC which the NUPW indicated they would be “prepared to embrace”.

“The NUPW agreed to discuss the offer with their partners and constituents and advise the Chair of their decision no later than the following day [today]. It was further agreed that there would be no statement to the media other than general comments by the Chair,” the Minister explained.

However, an unimpressed Dr Byer said, “in yet another unprecedented move, the NUPW later gave a press conference without advising either the Chair or the BIDC of its decision.

“This is regretted as there are now some inconsistencies between the offer the BIDC made and read to the meeting, and the offer the NUPW is reportedly accepting.”

She went on to spell out the points of the BIDC offer, including a promise “not to act on the letters issued to the ten retirees”.

“Those workers were still employees, now paid up to the September 30, 2015 according to those letters, and BIDC accepted that they would remain as full employees, pending the outcome of the discussions.”

The Minister of Labour also disclosed that “it was further discussed that, under the terms of this offer, the workers would not return to the office of BIDC during the discussions which would follow”.

However, “in the spirit of compromise and in an effort to move the matter forward” BIDC had said they would meet with the NUPW as early as today “to have frank and open discussions with full disclosure of the issues at BIDC to settle the matter in the shortest possible time.

“BIDC further acceded to the NUPW’s request that they would not seek the court’s opinion at this time on the interpretation of Section 8(1) of the Statutory Boards Pensions Act as the proposed dialogue would not be on a legal basis but on the basis and principles of Protocol 6,” the statement added.

Describing the development as a “sad day in industrial relations”, Walrond said he was disgusted and disturbed by the latest development, which he said raised serious doubt over the whole intent of yesterday’s Social Partnership Sub-Committee meeting.

He said the unions approached the meeting with “seriousness, respect and a show of good faith”.

Following yesterday’s announcement by the unions that the terminations of the ten BIDC workers would immediately be rescinded, Walrond said in light of the Minister‘s statement the whole matter was now up in the air.

However, he said he couldn’t say definitively at this stage whether this would mean a resumption of protest action by the unions, which were said to be drafting a press statement on the matter.

Based on tonight’s developments that statement may not be forthcoming before tomorrow.

Executive members of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) were late this evening being transported to the Ebola Centre as a precautionary measure, after they came into contact with a “mysterious package” sent to the NUPW’s headquarters.

NUPW executive Fabian Jones says he will not be intimidated.

The disclosure was made by the 2nd Vice President of the NUPW, Fabian Jones, who posted the following message on his Facebook page:

“I am currently quarantined at the NUPW with other members of the executive and some secretariat members. It appears to be some kind of chemical attack. We received a mysterious package with a white substance in newspaper pages with threatening messages on the inside and it appears to be affecting us in different ways. My chest is tight and my skin is a lil itchy. Awaiting transport to the Ebola Center for a hose down as a precautionary [measure].”

Jones, who also posted pictures of himself in protective gear, said: “The package had some threats about finishing us off one by one and some specific threats were made to our President Akanni McDowall and also the Leader of the Opposition [Mia Mottley].

“This is getting very serious. Why take it to this level? Is this what you get when you stand up? Anyhow I will not be yielding to any intimidation. From all accounts it appears to be clearly politically motivated. Massa always gets another slave to do his dirty work. After all the negative labels we got for standing up, I am tempted to think that someone wants to silence us. I remain steadfast in the struggle, however. Do not worry . . . . I am blessed.”
Police are currently investigating the discovery, which comes against the backdrop of a bitter impasse between the NUPW and the Government over recent retrenchments in the public sector.

The union has been threatening to stage a national shutdown over the impasse.