Two labour organizations delivered some strong words to Government at a national economic consultation yesterday.
The Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) said Barbados could no longer remain on pause and the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) warned of the consequences of failing to honour commitments.
It was their first appearance at a national consultation since the BWU split from CTUSAB.
Cedric Murrell, CTUSAB’s president, used jargon from his profession of air traffic control to tell yesterday’s Public/Private Sector Consultation at the Hilton: “Barbados has been in a holding pattern for a long time, and we need to . . . fly a defined path to our destination; for to continue in a holding pattern for much longer may mean that you may run out of fuel, crash and burn.”
Murrell said Barbados must return to a growth path, and while the collective expectation and resolve of Barbadians were being diminished by a dark cloud of uncertainty, the country must imbue itself with hope and build on the tenets of the National Anthem.
 “We cannot afford to stand still any longer; let’s get running, the pace has got to get hotter, let’s get to work to build a more resilient economy,”?he said.
The BWU, meanwhile, called for a shared vision, stating that no one sector should be elevated into a position of affluence at the expense of other sectors.
“The Congress of the BWU believed that in 1992 and still believe it today . . . because it is only through the honouring of commitments that we’re going to be able to argue that this moment too, like other moments, will pass,” BWU general secretary Sir Roy Trotman said. The failure to honour each sector’s commitments would benefit a few but cause the country to suffer, he added.
Sir Roy said he had sensed evidence of efforts to suppress the interests of some stakeholders, and in his view this was dangerous.
“We don’t need divisiveness. We need more than we ever did before the services, the contribution and the goodwill of each and every one of us.”
