Discrimination in the workplace to be rooted out

Government is gearing up to introduce another piece of labour legislation soon.

That’s according to Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Senator Dr. Esther Byer Suckoo, who revealed in the Upper House last week that legislation to address anti-discrimination in the workplace is being worked on.

That proposed law, she said, is another cog in Government’s labour law reform efforts, which are geared towards ensuring that workplaces across this nation are safe for all workers. She noted that over the last few years Government has brought a suite of labour legislation to fruition, including the Employment Rights Act, the Holidays with Pay Act, the Minimum Wage Board Act and the Shops Act.

“And we have now the final draft of the Anti-discrimination in the Workplace Act, which I hope to have before the Parliament shortly. All of these, with one similar undercurrent – and it is to ensure that the workers’ rights are protected, that the workers are in better conditions, because until this happens a worker who is afraid in a workplace cannot speak about productivity,” she said.

Minister Byer Suckoo explained that the proposed anti-discrimination legislation is intended to address any form of discrimination against workers. She added that it will look at discrimination on the basis of such things as gender, race and nationality.

“We do have persons from other nationalities and other races in workplaces – that are predominantly Barbadian blacks – and these other folks tend to sometimes experience a lot of discrimination and a lot of harassment in the workplace by virtue of them being different. And I spoke about the power dynamic in society, when one group feels that they have the right, because they are the majority or because society ascribes that to them,” she stated.

The Labour Minister added, “We are also looking at disparities of wages, working conditions, conditions in the physical plant…all of this is coming to ensure that we can have the kinds of workplaces that we want.” (JRT)