ECONOMIC VIEWPOINT: Harsh realities

WHAT was thought three years ago to be an alliance of sorts between labour, capital and the then opposition Barbados Labour Party, is all of a sudden turning out not to be the case.

It was in July 2017 that they came together for a big march to protest the policies of the then Freundel Stuart-led Democratic Labour Party (DLP) government.

So significant was this that employees were told their pay would not be docked for being away from work once they attended the march, something which they did.

Stuart’s response included a clip from the Bible story of Jacob stealing Esau’s birthright, that the “voice sounded like Jacob but the hands seemed to be those of Esau’s”. It was a profound comment that now appears to be making sense.

That protest had the eventual outcome as it contributed to the demise of the Stuart administration in 2018.

Fast forward to 2020 and employees are now coming to terms with some workforce realities and how difficult it has become for them in these times of recession.

There is an IMF programme to revive the economy. That programme saw workers being sent packing from the civil service and some areas in the same private sector. People are paying higher taxes.

The 23 per cent and 15 per cent pay increases which respectively the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) were clamouring for never materialised.

Enter COVID-19 and the situation gets worse.

Barbados is now witnessing a spate of industrial unrest.

Many workers have taken to the picket lines to protest issues ranging from the non-payment of severance, layoffs, and having to work extremely long hours and for years, while not being appropriately compensated.

Two weeks ago Toni Moore, the General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union, having won the St. George North by-election, promised to move with haste to deal with other severance payments issues, similar to what employees of The Club Hotel and Spa had been facing.

“I am happy that the workers we have spoken to really want out, because of the conditions they faced over the last six months,” she told the media.

“There are numerous issues impacting people in the hotel industry,” she said, but admitted there is a national initiative to deal with these problems.

During the election campaign, Ms. Moore, on more than one occasion, had to defend her stewardship as head of the BWU, against attacks by her opponents.

Over the weekend the Minister of Labour, Colin Jordan, appealed to employers not to leave their workers behind. He also urged them not to hide behind laws and technicalities but rather, to be fair with their employees.

“People are unsure about the future,” he remarked.

Facebook posts have revealed that this ought not to be a surprise since there was a similar situation in 1994 as workers across industries were subjected to downsizing in the late 1990s.

In all fairness to the hoteliers and other businesses, the unfolding events of an IMF programme – which involves deep austerity measures and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic – which started earlier this year, were not anticipated.

The latter especially was more severe, causing disruptions in air travel, downturn in economic activity, falloff in demand for goods and services, and lower tax revenues earmarked for Government.

With that shrinking demand, Government has been forced to adjust some of its economic polices.

Businesses have also felt the impact of the prevailing situation and they too were forced to amend business strategies.

One of the first remedies in dealing with these occurrences is the shedding of labour while looking to a combination of reduced employees and capital/technology to maintain output where that is possible. On this score, businesses would naturally look to Government for support wherever possible so as to help them stay afloat.

Government has come up with the Barbados Employment and Sustainable Transformation (BEST) programme to aid them, while stipulating that enterprises retain as many employees as is possible. However, it is money that has to be repaid as reiterated quite recently by hotelier Gordon Seale.

No one knows how long this COVID-19 crisis is going to last, and a solution to the pandemic seems to reside with a vaccine. Even if the emergence of a vaccine does bring relief, there is still a lag effect for Barbados where growth is expected.

Who knows growth could very well come our way in 2022, although the Central Bank of Barbados thinks that things will get better next year. In the event the situation remains unchanged, there will be more of what the country is witnessing at the moment.

It could also cause Government’s revenue position to stretch at a time when it does not have unlimited resources to call on. To date, Government has done enough to keep the situation from getting out of hand.

What we do not want, however, is that going forward the gulf between labour and capital gets wider.

Barbados Advocate

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Advocate Publishers (2000) Inc
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Phone: (246) 467-2000
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