BWU Conference to focus on workers

THE Barbados Workers’ Union (BUW) seventy-sixth Annual Delegates Conference will focus on the future for workers in the country.

The conference which is scheduled to be held on August 26 and 27, will be focusing on a number of resolutions that will allow delegates and observers, to not only hear the Union’s strategic vision which will be outlined by General Secretary Toni Moore, but also to get an opportunity to feed into that vision, and to shape the strategic direction of the organisation.

“We therefore want our delegates and observers to be buying into the future that they want to see for themselves, but beyond words, we want to be able to formulate an action plan. We started that process last year on the second day of our conference and we found that it was very useful in having our membership understanding the issues that we were trying to communicate to them, and understanding that they are very pivotal to us achieving the strategic objectives that we have set for this organisation,” Moore said, while speaking at the conference during a press conference at BWU’s Solidarity House, headquarters, yesterday.

The first of the five resolutions to be discussed at the conference include, “The Future We Want”. BWU recognises that a sustainable future is possible only if institutions at all levels are effective, transparent, accountable and democratic.

“Then we have two other resolutions that really are constitutional amendments that we will be seeking and I would not want to elaborate on those simply because they are resolutions that will be for the memberships specifically to concern themselves with.

“Those resolutions relate to how we format our annual delegates conference, how we structure that conference going forward. The third one relates to how do we constitute an executive council to make allowances for participation by all the major gender groups; the youth, women, retired members and how do we allow for their participation?” Moore explained.

The General Secretary pointed out that the fourth resolution will be on retiring benefits, a matter which she said should be of concern to all Barbadians, but particularly, the younger generation.

She said younger members have to be concerned with the fact that there is an ageing workforce and the provisions that have to be made to ensure the sustainability of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) as it relates to sustaining national pension.

“The Barbados Workers’ Union recognises that in the last actuarial review, there was a suggestion that the pensionable age could move as far as age 70. Currently, there is in place the provision for the pensionable age to be 67, but with that age moving to age 70, I am sure that a number of our delegates will be interested to get involved in those discussions and to direct the incoming Executive Council as to how we should proceed in those discussions to influence them in ways that would be meaningful to us in the long run,” she said.

The fifth resolution speaks to crime and violence and how the trade union movement can impact some of the social-economic decisions that have to be made, especially as it relates to engagement of young people.

“The Seventy-Sixth annual Delegates Conference is lining up to be a very interesting one for the 473 delegates that we anticipate to see there and our observers. There will be a total therefore of approximately 650 worker participants that we anticipate at the conference. We also expect that there will be a number of motions, put as usual, from the floor, so that our discussions will not be limited to the five areas that I have outlined in resolutions,” she said.

The two-day Conference will be held at Solidarity House. Principal of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Professor Eudine Barriteau, is scheduled to deliver the feature address at the opening ceremony. (AH)