At a time when our little country which has been slow to recover from the global recession of 2008 should be marshalling all of its resources to the benefit of all, Barbadians and the world have awakened to the news the country remains gripped in industrial action. As if the manmade problems were not enough sargassum seaweed continues to obliterate our coastline and in the process suffocate our tourism product.
The old people have a saying, “what you sow, you does reap”, the political tinkering, corruption and downright wickedness in high and low places has eroded all trust and integrity from our society. Our inability, although educated at great expense, to resolve our problems with minimum dislocation is an indictment of us all, we should remove the description ‘an educated people’ from our lexicon.
Barbadians knew last evening minister Esther Byer would not have been able to resolve the issue. However, custom and protocol required we have the meeting when commonsense dictated given the serious of the impasse between the unions led by the NUPW and government, a joint meeting with the Prime Minister and Minister of Labour should have been called.
We have become a nation of JAs!
BU leaves you with the following comment posted by BU commenter St. George’s Dragon:
The common theme in these labour disputes seems to be the employer seeking to lay off staff without declaring the real reason. We all know, not least because the BIDC told us, that they need to make savings, so staff have to go. Others more knowledgeable than me will be able to say what the legal position is but common sense says that in this situation, BIDC should be able to make people redundant and pay them what they are entitled to receive in accordance with the law. Why dress it up as early enforced retirement? If the post no longer exists because there is no money to pay for it, sadly, people have to be sent home.
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