Moore: LIFO was agreed to by the Social Partnership

General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union Toni Moore in a statement issued yesterday stated, “Our issue has not been with what was done, but rather, the way it was done,” on the now contentious retrenchment exercise in which scores of employees across the public sector have been abruptly sent home, some without letters and without notice.

“To date, the retrenchment exercise in the public sector has not impacted large numbers of BWU members directly. However, even where there have been a few impacts to our constituents, the BWU has been concerning itself with the way in which the process has been handled.”

Moore, who is currently out of the island, also reported that the BWU has been preoccupied with gathering information from displaced members regarding their skills and interests to see how they can benefit from anticipated opportunities in the shortest possible time.

“Our issue has not been with what was done, but rather, the way it was done; particularly since, the approach to the retrenchment exercise to date, has not been consistent with what was agreed at the level of the Social Partnership.”

The general secretary said that as the BWU prepares itself for a series of meetings where retrenchment is contemplated across several State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) where the BWU is the accredited representative of the workers, the union remains very mindful and attentive to the approaches which we must protect against if fairness is to be guaranteed.

“For instance, the SOEs are governed by the Employment Rights Act and so, we will ensure that discussions are guided by the provisions of the Act as well as by the agreements reached at our Social Partnership meetings. One such area of consideration relates to the BWU’s insistence on Last-In-First-Out, which is the selection method which the Social Partnership agreed would be applied to the retrenchment exercise.”

“The proposal is that that criteria would be amended only where it could be shown that its use compromised the retention of existing skills; skills that are not present elsewhere within the public sector.”

She said the Barbados Workers’ Union is aware that the subject of retrenchment is always certain to be one which raises high emotions, especially at a time where household disposable incomes have been under significant strain from direct and indirect taxes for some time.

The general secretary stated the Union has been constrained to consider and accept that the action being taken across the public sector was necessary in order to protect the value of the Barbados dollar.

“The BWU accepts the position that the devaluation of the Barbados dollar would have far worse implications for all concerned.”

The general secretary noted that the Union is on record as saying that retrenchment where it even impacts one person, is disheartening. She revealed that several discussions have been held at the level of the Social Partnership since the end of May this year, adding that there has been much discussion surrounding whether retrenchment was even necessary to achieve the desired levels of recovery and sustainability. Moore, to this end stated, “To our members, we are relying on you to walk with us through this very difficult exercise.”