BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – REPORTS coming out of Barbados indicate that four unions on that island are applying pressure to the Freundel Stuart Administration to get its act together or they would continue their protest action.
The Barbados Government was given three weeks to go to the table with something substantial or the unions - Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union, Barbados Workers’ Union, National Union of Public Workers and the Barbados Union of Teachers - along with the Barbados Private Sector Association, would continue with their protest action that is heading into its third week.
In a SKNVibes interview yesterday (Jul. 25), Pedro Shepherd, President of the Barbados Union of Teachers, explained that following a protest action by the unions on Monday, in which the Barbados Private Sector Association lent support, the Government had scheduled a meeting for August 18 with the Social Partnership.
He said the meeting is a special arrangement among the government, workers and the private sector, where they come together periodically to discuss national issues.
Shepherd however pointed out that the unions are adamant that they are expecting the government to go with a proper proposal when it sits down for the meeting, noting that there are approximately three weeks before the scheduled discussions.
“We were asking for that meeting to come forward and I don’t think it is going to come forward. So between the march yesterday and August 18, which is about three weeks, the government has that timeframe to craft some response to the protest that we have been seeing over the last two or three weeks and to come to the Social Partnership on the 18th prepared to have open and frank discussions.”
Shepherd, in giving a background to the protest action, stated that the four unions came together as a show of strength and solidarity to pressure the government into listening to their cries.
According to Shepherd, the show of solidarity stemmed from the Freundel Stuart administration not giving an ear to concerns of the trade unions.
“We have been complaining of being disrespected by the government, by several government departments [and] several ministers. We have not had the type of dialogue that we think is necessary to help to take the government or the economy where it is supposed to be. We believe that we as workers have a contribution to make, and the four of the largest trade unions decided to come together to put their numbers together to see how best they could pressure government into listening.”
He added that they would have had several meetings through the Social Partnership with various representatives of government and the Prime Minister, who is also the Minister of Finance.
However, despite those meetings, Shepherd claimed that many of what they had put forward to the government did not come to fruition. policies, “So on May 30 the government went to Parliament with the Annual Budget Address and they increased what is called the National Social Responsibility Levy from 2.5% to 10%. So, that more or less helped fuel the union in terms of wanting a decision”.
He noted that some of the unions wanted full repeal of that legislation or reduce it to 5%, but the government is not in favour of that.
“The unions felt that it wasn’t going to do anything for the workers but to disadvantage them, because it is a tax that is placed on all imported items as well as on all domestically produced items. So, technically, all workers who are consumers are going to be affected by this 400% Levy.”
With that in place, the unions contended that it would create hardship, knowing that there was no salary increase since 2010.
Shepherd stated that adding that in order to close the gap in the deficit, “all the government has been doing is piling on taxes after taxes on taxes”.
Following Monday’s protest action, Shepherd was reportedly quoted as saying: “Bring this government to its knees.” But he sought to clarify what the statement meant.
“The statement of bringing the government to its knees is not a statement to bring the government down, but to what the old people would say from a Christian understanding: ‘The voices of the people must be heard and be respected.’ And you cannot continue to govern in a climate where citizens are unhappy and to continue to respond to the cries of the people by being arrogant. You cannot govern that way!”
Late yesterday afternoon, it was reported that the impasse would be debated in the National Assembly in Bridgetown.
