AN APPEAL FOR CALM has come from the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) to those involved in The Royal Shop and Sandy Lane Hotel disputes.

President Dick Stoute told the WEEKEND NATION yesterday in a telephone interview, that "we will make every effort we can to assist in the process of resolving the issue".

He added: "In the meantime I would appeal to everyone for calm. From what I read in the newspaper, the protest is a little bit beyond what would normally be expected for a protest in that the comment, with regard to stones thrown at a door and the defacing of property with whatever – all that makes it much more difficult to come to any sort of conclusion.

"We really need everybody to calm down and let's deal with the issues as intelligently as we can."

Stoute said the country could ill afford a strike on a national scale and should it take place next Wednesday as proposed by the executive council of the Barbados Workers' Union, "it would be very detrimental".

"We're looking at very challenging economic circumstances coming up; this has been highlighted in the Throne Speech and we need to make every effort to ensure that Barbados goes together as a unit and we certainly don't know what the ultimate consequences of escalating this problem could lead to," the BCCI president added.

Stoute said that striking was a legitimate form of industrial action usually taken at the "end of a process".

"We want to be assured that we go through that process before we get to strike action," he added.

The BWU said it would shut down Barbados next Wednesday if there was no settlement in the dispute between the union and management of The Royal Shop who dismissed 12 workers.

This deadline also applies to the Sandy Lane Hotel which dismissed 18 workers, BWU general secretary Senator Sir Roy Trotman said. (DS)