New general secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), Toni Moore, says the “ugly” manner in which Government handled the retrenchment of thousands of its employees this year should never be repeated.
Moore told the MIDWEEK NATION yesterday the BWU was disappointed about the way the process was undertaken, with some dismissed workers still to get their full severance packages months later. Furthermore, she said the union was working to ensure “that this ugly situation does not repeat itself with this Government” or any other.
“From the onset, the union had challenged the Government of the need for us to sit down and discuss the challenges being faced and to examine the approach and processes that needed to be adhered to in managing any retrenchment situation,” she said.
“We had a number of meetings as far back as last year September when we received the signal during the Budget and we recognised that Government was challenged and that there needed to be cuts.
“But we cannot be satisfied that everything we presented to Government as steps to be taken to manage the process, they weren’t adhered to, and so we had a situation that resulted in a very uncomfortable reality for many of those displaced.”
