National Shutdown Policy gets passing grade

While it needs a few tweaks, the National Shutdown Policy has been given a passing grade by the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB).

“If there is one area we can give kudos, it would be the National Shutdown Policy where we have had recent occasion to observe and to test. It is by no means perfect and indeed will require some ongoing work and tweaking, but by and large…we are reasonably satisfied about the intent and the implementation of that policy,” President of the umbrella body Edwin O’Neal stated.

He added that a post-mortem of how this operated during the passage of Tropical Storm Dorian was expected to soon take place to be able to further
refine the policy.

He was speaking to the media recently while outlining the agenda for the Congress’ upcoming mid-term delegates conference, which will open on September 19 at the 3Ws Pavilion of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. Minister of Labour Colin Jordan is expected to give remarks while former Chief Labour Officer Vincent Burnett will deliver the feature address.

Seven resolutions are on the agenda including: the disrespect and disengagement of trade unions by social partners; the breach of workers’ representative ILO convention No. 135; the appointment of CTUSAB representatives for representation of public and government boards; whether state owned enterprises are maintaining good industrial relations practices; CTUSAB’s representation on SOEs; an increase in the use of arable land; and the eligibility of public officers serving in political office.

He also said that for the first time CTUSAB would be making public a code of practice for persons with disabilities.

“We will have a very full agenda of resolutions and I believe these would prove to be very topical and of interest to our membership.”
(JMB)