BARBADIANS must find a way to bear the burden of the most vulnerable in society.

That was the challenge from Barbados Workers' Union General-Secretary Sir Roy Trotman to the congregation at St Paul's Church on Bay Street, St Michael Sunday at their service launching the 7th Annual Fiesta, this year honouring "de Bajan Worker".

"In communities like ours, there is a body of opinion that believes that those who have wealth ought to be permitted to increase that wealth . . . [but] at the expense of those who have little wealth and there must be an arrangement where there is plus for some at the expense or minus of the other.

"We don't have to engage ourselves in a plus-minus game. We ought to be able to find an approach to developing our resources in Barbados. We ought to be able to find an approach to humankind that would ensure that we carry along the most vulnerable and assist those most in need, and that society must not believe that economic growth or influence must only be for a narrow amount of people," Sir Roy charged.

He lauded St Paul's Church for creating their fiesta "to challenge the comfort zone of establishments" by honouring and advancing the cause of the Bajan worker.

Also in attendance in support of the church's event was president of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), Walter Maloney.

"The church looks after the spiritual side of the human being while we, the unions, look after the truth and the representation of justice for the worker, so it is important, especially in these days, there is a relationship between the church and the union to have the interest of the worker at hand," he said.

Maloney, like Sir Roy, called on other churches and denominations "to see fit, when they are having their occasions, to celebrate the workers as well".

Canon Wayne Issacs' sermon similarly called on his congregation to work against the plus-minus game and "to be willing to listen to the cries of our brothers and sisters and help them to overcome their fears and concerns".

The fiesta will take place at St Gabriel's School on April 28 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. where Theodore Collymore, a businessman and former caterer to Parliament for over 18 years, and Henderson Jordan, a former seaman and sanitation worker who now spends his time as a small farmer will be honoured. (TM)