THE ROW BETWEEN two trade unions and the National Conservation Commission over retrenchment of close to 200 workers has finally been settled, following today’s intervention by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.
Stuart told reporters after nearly four hours of talks with the three parties that the process through which workers were selected for retrenchment was flawed and had to be corrected.
He said it made no sense sending the case back to the party which had created the problem in the first place for correction and that the matter would have to be treated with urgency by the independent Employment Rights Tribunal.
According to Stuart, the outcome of the tribunal’s work could be the rehiring of some workers and the layoff of a number who had not been previously affected by the job-cutting programme.
Representatives of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) and the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) welcomed the outcome of the talks held at Government Headquarters and attended by NCC general manager Keith Neblett, Minister of Labour Esther Byer Suckoo and Chief Labour Officer Vincent Burnett.
Both unions will brief NCC employees on the outcome of the discussions tomorrow morning during separate meetings.(TY)
