The report coming out of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it ‘failed to realise the damage austerity would do to Greece’ makes for an interesting observation as Barbados is negotiating its own brand of economic austerity. The moral of the story for Barbadians is simple, we need to solve our problems by leveraging homegrown knowledge capital – see article IMF admits: we failed to realise the damage austerity would do to Greece. .
The admission by IMF Chief Christine Lagarde brings back the memory of pre-2007 and how global credit rating agencies contributed to the global recession by feeding demand for helter skelter consumption and ignoring a financial framework built on a questionable financial market which continues today to peddle questionable securities the like of credit default swaps, derivatives and electronic trading to mention a few.
During the recent presentation of the 2015 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals minister of finance Chris Sinckler insisted it was a home grown effort. However a visit to the IMF website supports the position the economic prescription the government seems committed to is NOT home grown. The huge debt to GDP gives Barbados little or no wiggle room to ignore the advice of international financial agencies largely responsible for influencing credit rating agencies. Despite what the prime minister and finance manager would have us believe a good sovereign credit rating does matter. The junk credit rating of Barbados makes borrowing on the capital market an expensive undertaking. Ask the Cahill people!
The news making the rounds this week and publicized at the BLP Tyrol Cot meeting last Sunday night: the government has been ‘analysing’ an IMF report on the state of the Barbados economy for about three weeks since the delivery of the Budget, and is yet to give permission for its release to the public. It supports the widely held view the Stuart government is inclined to manipulate information and engage in a lack of transparency for political advantage. The minister of finance was forced to hurriedly confirm the IMF report story the Monday after the BLP Tyrol,Cot meeting. What should be 0f interest to Barbadians – minister Sinckler confirmed the IMF is still concerned about the level of quantitative easing being practiced by the central bank of Barbados and government.
On a related note: the industrial relations climate in Barbados is ‘hotting up’ and it makes one wonder how effective the social partnership has been in the last couple of years, and we add minister of labour Esther Byer to the mix. BU suspects both unions have not forgotten the ‘black eye’ given to them by government and private sector in recent years. NUPW must still be smarting from the NCC matter and under a new management seems to be bent on retrieving its flagging reputation. There is also the Caswell Franklyn factor whose union has been making more noise than the two which are more established. It is unfortunate both sides have reached a point where dialogue has broken down, the last thing Barbados needs at this time is a national strike and low productivity. In the case of the BIDC – the current matter which has triggered industrial protest – it seems to be one better left to the law court to determine, but any issue maybe a good issue for the union to claw back its influence and membership.
The perilous state of the economy requires Barbadians to leverage the benefit of the large investment in education by resolving our problems. The rising tension in industrial relations in Barbados is symptomatic of a dearth in leadership in all facets of society.
290 responses to “Is the Economy Improving and Why Strike Now”
David, I am unaware of Tricia’s view. May you fill me in?
David, my point is simple. If you pass a law in 2012 that provides expressly for the lawfulness and unlawfulness of dismissals [or terminations at the initiative of the employer] and it does not carve out any exception for the lawfulness of any other terminations of employment that might have preceded it, then those earlier provisions will have to be read subject to the later law, and if they are found to be inconsistent, then they are impliedly repealed by the later legislation.
A dismissal on account of the age, race, political opinion etc has now been rendered automatically unfair by section 30(1)(c)(XI) of the Employment Rights Act. To my mind, this impliedly repeals any law that permitted a dismissal on these bases previously. As I argued earlier,
“Indeed, none seems to have noticed that the ERA2012 similarly provides in section 30(1)(c) that “a dismissal of an employee contravenes the right conferred on him by section 27[the right not to be unfairly dismissed by his employer] where the reason for the dismissal is (xi) a reason that relates to the race, colour, gender, age marital status, religion, political opinion… of the employee…” [Emphasis added]. ”
Any argument to the contrary will have to show why that provision should not apply to the present dispute and why it does not impliedly repeal the section on which the BIDC relies.
look speckled fowl your snide attacks on ac are all worn out.the effect which you have wanted has caused little or no impact .The fact being that if you want to talk about credibilty start looking at self first for u have proven in the past years that u can be a yardfowl like any one so don, t even bother to take the credibilty route that bus left u behind a long time ago in lieu of your propensity to insult bloggers of differing opinion and as of recent to lie about comments which were posted and then intentionally remove by you .case and point pachaman a regular contributor and blogger called u a f..ing liar for using deception for removing a comment you posted in an effort to prove pacha wrong. when u speak about credibilty check self first just like Mottley you have chosen gossip and deception to be a stalwart for hypocrisy and yardfowlism
@ Jeff
Retirement as opposed to dismissal must be addressed
@ Jeff Cumberbatch, wrote “my point is simple.”
“A dismissal on account of the age, race, political opinion etc has now been rendered automatically unfair by section 30(1)(c)(XI) of the Employment Rights Act.”
So nobody at BIDC read and understand this act? It seems really “simple” to me.
Bushie,
Have you ever stopped to consider that the problem with women in serious leadership positions may be the quality of women “allowed” or facilitated by the males in power to rise to these positions? Sometimes they elevate their side women or their bootlickers rather than those deserving of the job. Besides, the male leaders among us are not crowning themselves with glory and haven’t been for a long time.
@Mr Chaucer,
There is no difference between the involuntary retirement of an employee instigated by an employer and a dismissal which is legally defined as “termination of employment at the initiative of the employer”. See section 26 (1)(a) of the Act for the meaning of dismissal -“…where the contract under which he is employed is terminated by the employer, whether with or without notice…”
Thanks, Hants@ 9.10am. Sometimes the clearest things tend to confuse those who are unwilling to see their clarity!
Going by the differing opinions of lawyers it is obvious their might be a discrepancy with in the law which needs to be address. however the Union strategy to shut down the country was uncalled for.Hope the strikers of SSA take note of Dr. Lowes comment it should be enough to put some commonsense in there head especially if the Union leader insist on using a hardened resolve.
Btw a point of interest the last strike whichMia Mottley called fell like as flat as a pancake leaving her looking like a loopy dog having to return to work without a resolution.anyone who would be seeking Mia support in industrial matters hot to have rocks growing on the brain
@Jeff
Thanks my friend , it follows that the dismissed workers remedies are in the courts of law.
An opportunity for the pro bono services of the Cave Hill Law Dpart or a summer moot court
@ Jeff
…again a REFRESHING and MUCH NEEDED voice of logic and common sense…in a sea of brass bowlery…
Shiite man…. YOU should be arrested for impersonating a typical Cave Hill brass bowl when you are so damn deep…
@ Donna 9:11 am
Agreed.
Also a good woman is MUCH TOO VALUABLE to be wasted is such shiite as the mundane day-to-day exigencies of life.
Have you ANY idea of the REAL value and CRITICAL contributions to be made to an enlightened society by a REAL REAL women…..??
SMH….
@Jeff Cumberbatch July 9, 2015 at 9:17 AM “Sometimes the clearest things tend to confuse those who are unwilling to see their clarity”
Jeff or to use an old saying, “there are none so blind as those who WILL NOT SEE”
Jeff when you get a chance visit VOB website and have a listen to her views expressed in yesterday’s program.
@Jeff
You are confirming it does not matter if BIDC employees have accepted their cheques the NUPW is within its right to argue the legal point cited in your comments?
Wow, it looks as what we feared came true!
One SSA worker was just on VOB saying that car loads of police turned up at SSA with sirens blazing and armed with guns for them this morning! It seem as if they came to crack heads and shoot the workers.
Look what we have come to in this country.
What is it about Akanni Mc Dowell that has stirred up such anger and hatred in these dems? They are running scared! Even Miss Idiot (Also referred to as Miss Undecided) is livid. She sounds like one of the ac’s……………………..
But no, she does not seem to have enough sense to operate a computer! My goodness……these are the dems for you! Just like the other dem called “left brain”!
please help, the ACs program chip that runs AC was develop with viruses to cause intrusions that no antivirus can stop, to make matters worse the hard drive (David Thompson) is dead,
Prodigal; re. your 12:45 pm post,
I heard (unconfirmed) that it was the Minister of the Environment, Dennis Lowe, who summoned the proactively well armed police and that he also instructed workers from his ministry to drive the sanitation trucks, thereby attempting to break the strike.
Anyone knows if that is true?
Correct me if I’m wrong. When negotiations are continuing shouldn’t any industrial action be put on hold pending the outcome? Therefore the SSA workers should be back to work .
But then again are there any trucks at SSA for garbage collection ?
Same result garbage piling up all over the place.
@ are-we-there-yet,
The news did say that workers from the NCC were sent to SSA and that the SSA workers blocked the entrance from the them being able to fill the trucks with diesel. Hnce the rask force came with guns blazing for them.
As you know a lot of the work force at NCC are from Christ Church East and they would be beholden to the lowe man. No surprise.
I passed through Oistins this morning and was appalled the huge build up of garbage to the east of the stalls. I wonder how this will play out tomorrow night.
Is it not strange that for as long as we can remember, the union leaders were wrapped up in the DLP and now the dems are going ballistic that the new president is alligned to the BLP. I heard an old goat for a union leader a know DLP supporter this morning on Brasstacks calling Mr McDowell……..the boy……..and DE let that slip. The President is 35 years old, for heavens sake!
Even the great David Ellis thought he should raise the question with Mr MCDowell. Did he ever raise the same question with Dennis Clarke or Walter Maloney when they held the DLP line since 2008?
The industrial unrest cannot be seen in isolation. The unions have taken a battering from government post general election in 2013. The chickens are coming home to roost.
Harold Yearwood
You asked to be corrected if you were wrong. Please stand corrected. The procedure of which you speak was developed in Barbados as a means of selling out the workers. Have you ever asked yourself why it is always the workers that must revert to the status quo ante and the employer is never asked to do so while negotiations are ongoing.
That is not industrial relations; it is a ploy to deceive workers that has now been accepted as the norm.
Sent from my iPad
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Prodigal Son July 9, 2015 at 1:54 PM #
This isn’t anything new Prodigal, the DEMS said the same thing about the president of UWI’s Student Guild, Damani Parris.
They accused Parris of being aligned to the BLP and being misled by BLP operatives, when he protested against the government’s decision to make UWI students pay tuition fees.
And this was against the background of Stuart re-emphasizing the point that the state would continue to pay for tertiary level education. See his comments below:
“PRIME MINISTER FREUNDEL STUART says tertiary education in Barbados will remain free across the board, dismissing suggestions that only the “less well off” should receive state subsidies. And, he insists that reintroducing tuition fees would be a step backwards in the country’s development.” [Daily Nation – Monday, November 14, 2011]
Then we subsequently read about the tirade acted out on Parris by Irene Sandiford-Garner saying he did not thank MoE Jones for “coming through with bursaries to help Barbadian students pay tuition fees.” (Which they are still awaiting.)
“…. “I heard ‘it was too late’ as if the taxpayers of this country were sitting down waiting to give Minister Jones their hard-earned money to EDUCATE PEOPLE LIKE HIM [Parris],” Sandiford-Garner said as she contributed to the Estimates debate in the Senate this afternoon.”
“Barbados . . . has now nurtured and raised a generation with a cadre within it of some citizens, some of whom have no sense of community, no obligation to give back and are IMBUED WITH A SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT that sometimes becomes offensive.” [Barbados Today, March 25, 2015]
And this coming from a woman who ran for St. Andrew in the 2008 and 2013 general elections, lost on both occasions, but was rewarded (WITH A SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT) by being appointed a senator and parliamentary secretary in the LARGEST CABINET IN THE HISTORY OF BARBADOS.
What has really “BECOME OFFENSIVE” is while “THE TAXPAYERS OF THIS COUNTRY ARE SITTING DOWN WAITING TO GIVE THEIR HARD-EARNED MONEY TO (pay people like her),” her government retrenched over 4,000 public sector employees and is now in the process of forcibly retiring people at age 60 years old.
We all know what the DEMS did during the UWI guild elections campaign. Harry Husbands of the Young Democrats said they have endorsed government’s decision to make Barbadian students pay tuition fees from September 2014.
Harry Husbands resigned from his job as Esther Byer’s personal assistant less than two weeks before the UWI Guild election, to run for Guild President.
But I guess by Husbands being a DEM, his move was not political.
What become offensive is that if anyone disagrees with anything this DLP does or any policy, they become very offended and blame Mia Mottley.
So, the NUPW, BWU, Unity, CTUSAB, and all the other unions in Barbados are making a stand against this issue, and the DLP and their yard-fowls are suggesting the unions are following Mottley’s agenda.
The same thing applied when Arthur was there. I’m surprised they have not mentioned their favourite phrases “the worst recession in a 100 years” or “Look at Greece” on this matter.
Methinks Bushie as usual has hit the nail on the head and Jeff drove it home.Even if the Women at BIDC namely those I heard on Brasstacks last Sunday,even if they had determined that they had the law on their side,they should have had a meeting with the union,and if they had done so,none of that discrimination on account of age,would have passed muster and to quote Gayle and Sammy,they would have had to go back to the drawing board.Further what has transpired,the problem at BIDC is one one lack of an effective strategy to collect outstanding rents.In other words aim your firepower as a landlord in the right direction.
Bushie again has resolved the present impasse.Those who want to go will go and those who want back their jobs will continue as though nothing happened.
Meanwhile this calling out the sheriff this morning is a whole new ball game.Big mistake.Some JA will pay big time.It en gine end so.These DLP riffraff showing their hand!
Prodigal Son July 9, 2015 at 1:54 PM #
Prodigal, the chair-person of BIPA, June Fowler, was also treated in a similar manner by the DEMS, when she and her organization sought to have clarity about the CLICO affair relative to their investments and insurance policies.
Well, while embracing Leroy Parris, partying and drinking champagne with him, and saying he is “NOT A LEPER,” Sinckler resorted to accusing Fowler of being “political”, saying she is as ignorant as a “BALD POOCH CAT.”
Sinckler said “I feel BIPA is misguided but that is just my view.”
And Fruendel Stuart, the imbecile he is, had the audacity to proudly state in parliament, he has a list of the people who invested in CLICO’s EFPA. (I am quoting from “Barbados Today” for the benefit of those yard-fowls who say the “Nation” publishes half-truths):
“. . . Wait. There is going to be a lot to be said on this. Do not mistake my silence for an incapacity to speak. The time will come when all things will be made clear and explained. I ain’t saying anything yet,” Stuart said.”
“He added: “I have a list . . . of all of the persons who invested in the Executive Flexible Premium Annuity, but I ain’t saying nothing yet. I know all the people who earning quick money, who were entranced by the lure of attractive interest rates. I know them, I have all of the names”…..” [Barbados Today – March 17, 2015]
But this can be expected from someone like Stuart who, after a civil law suit was filed against Michael Carrington for with-holding a client’s funds, told him (Carrington) to get a lawyer and called critics of this scenario, “sanctimonious hypocrites.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On the UWI tuition fees issue, Stuart said:
“Speaking just as tough to critics of Government’s University of the West Indies (UWI) tuition fees policy, Stuart today made it clear that his administration would not be changing course on that matter to please any minority group, even in the face of a letter from the president of the Cave Hill Campus Guild of Students Damani Parris, “threatening” action if the decision was not reversed.” [Barbados Today, February 7, 2015]
What makes the unions think he will change course on this BIDC matter?
@Bush Tea July 8, 2015 at 8:39 PM “widely publicized view of Tricia Watson…Her position seems to be typified by her contention that the LAW overrides relationship based protocols….and hence that the BIDC were justified in ignoring the union and following ‘the Law’.
“The law was made for man and not man for the law” Jesus Christ
This statement was true then and this is still true now.
Word on the street the NUPW top brass are at odds can’t decided whether it is fish today or fowl tomorrow the govt can rest assured that these nugget heads have no clue as to what strategy would best work without upsetting the public.
ac predicts that the longer this strike continues “strike fatigue would set in as the noise and out rage from the public start pointing the fingers at the Union for all the Chaos. The only one serving grace for the Union would be if govt proceed with an alternative plan to hire retired workers whic in a way would lessen the effect of discomfort to the public as well as lessen trhe noise heading their way from the public ,however the downside would be the workers who might be without an income and the Union having to find a way to compensate causing a financial burden to an already cash strapped Union. there is an ole saying “be careful what you wish cause the fellow who help you buy a big foot horse not going to help you ride it,
All in all the Unions created a pile of rubbish not for govt alone but for themselves as well and the public who would become weary and tired. Reversing time is not easy and the NUPW would learn that the hard way .
Simple Simon
Ms Watson is mistaken. The BIDC is acting as though the law was not changed. The retirement age was increased with effect from January 1, 2005. They are breaking the law. It would be better if Ms Watson checked the law before she makes such pronouncements.
Sent from my iPad
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@Bush Tea July 8, 2015 at 8:39 PM “she was at pains today to prove Bushie’s point that women should be kept as far as possible from serious leadership responsibilities….First of course by getting all worked up and emotional on the subject – to the point where she REFUSED to open-mindedly entertain contrary views”
Tricia is no more emotional than Donville who get vex and tek up he ball and gone home.
She is no more close minded that the rest of the [mostly male] DLP
@ac July 8, 2015 at 9:42 PM “The Unions called for action is a disadvantage against the citizens of barbados where innocence would have to pay a price”
CORRECTION The DLP is a disadvantage against the citizens of barbados where innocence would [are paying] a price
Your two posts are spot on, Artaxerxes……………………..if only the sheep known as the ac’s would read and learn how to put across a point.
But what has become of the bandit chaser, Irene Sandiford Garner? I have not heard her recently with any idiotic statements like the one ……………“I heard ‘it was too late’ as if the taxpayers of this country were sitting down waiting to give Minister Jones their hard-earned money to EDUCATE PEOPLE LIKE HIM [Parris],” Sandiford-Garner said as she contributed to the Estimates debate in the Senate this afternoon.”
This is such a condescending statement from a entitled moron.
Notice how the BLP has cooled their firing power, What they are beginning to realized is that the pain of the strike effects them as well and for them the best right is SELF Right which means that if the rights of the striker impacts on their right to be comfortable they would be a parting of the way. hmmmm.
Caswell Franklyn July 9, 2015 at 5:47 PM “Simple Simon Ms Watson is mistaken.
I know that Ms. Watson is mistaken.
I perceive her to be a DLPite or a least DLP wanna be.
So I hear her on VOB but I don’t take her seriously.
@ David @12.44pm
If some of the workers have accepted their cheques, then they would also most likely have signed a form of release that would prevent litigation by the signor against the BIDC.
It might even be argued that unless they have indicated that they are acting under protest, the encashment of the cheques by them, even if there is no signed release, would imply an acceptance of the BIDC actions.
Thanks for your kind words @11.01am, Mr Bush Tea!
Caswell,
Not only was she wrong but she was arrogant in her pronunciations, she was not tolerant of other people’s views which were not like hers.
She has to defend the DLP, she is now feeding at the trough as well…….she is chairperson of some board!
@ Caswell Franklyn July 9, 2015 at 5:47 PM
“Ms Watson is mistaken. The BIDC is acting as though the law was not changed. The retirement age was increased with effect from January 1, 2005.”
Caswell, would you please expatiate on your assertion? I gather Jeff C the legal eagle on the Hill of Academia is also ‘questioning the strength of the BIDC’s case and the statutory ground on which it rests.
But how is it the line Minister of the Crown for the BIDC is no longer so garrulously cocksure as to put the Labour Minister in her place for usurping his authority?
Should the Minister of Labour (pheromones and all, with the backstabbing blessing of her political Sugar Daddy Dead Cock Fumble) broker a deal that undermines the Don’s arrogant authority where would this leave the King of Porn? With a flaccid priapism of egotistical incompetence?
Now that would be a clear low hanging fruit case of erectile humiliation so embarrassingly degrading that it must lead to his resignation from the Cabinet in true-blue Westminster fashion, Viagra of popularity notwithstanding.
Jeff
What would be the effect of those releases if the workers signed them without knowing that they were clauses in the agreement that conflict with the law.
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Jeff you said above, “….A dismissal on account of the age, race, political opinion etc has now been rendered automatically unfair by section 30(1)(c)(XI) of the Employment Rights Act. To my mind, this impliedly repeals any law that permitted a dismissal on these bases previously.”
With that said how then can a contract be valid and enforceable if it is relying on a legal principle which is repealed?
Obviously that in itself does not invalidate the contract based on what I am interpreting from your comments. I thought it might.
I presume Caswell is asking the same thing in a different way
The common theme in these labour disputes seems to be the employer seeking to lay off staff without declaring the real reason.
We all know, not least because the BIDC told us, that they need to make savings, so staff have to go.
Others more knowledgeable than me will be able to say what the legal position is but common sense says that in this situation, BIDC should be able to make people redundant and pay them what they are entitled to receive in accordance with the law.
Why dress it up as early enforced retirement? If the post no longer exists because there is no money to pay for it, sadly, people have to be sent home.
@ Dragon
No one disputes your common sense argument…. clearly not the union.
However you MUST know that some unscrupulous employers have been known to use such circumstances …and even to FAKE such circumstances, to take vindictive actions against specific individuals for personal and other biased and unlawful reasons.
All the union is asking for is transparency of process….
What could be more reasonable?
If it is as you say, why not meet with the union and lay the cards on the table…?
Have you noticed that this DLP government has been picking on the poorly paid; on unemployed students; the sick; and now the elderly …in their attempts to ‘save money’
Have you noticed their mad rush at the same time to fund multi-million dollar deals with the Paradise Beach Pisser – Butch; with the Campaign funders ..Bizzy and Maloney; and now with Darcy’s undercover Cahill woman….?
Have you noticed that NO POLITICIANS have been laid off….? No Cabinet reductions..?
Have you noticed that Kellman was HIRED to now display his idiocy under ministerial cover?
Have you noticed that Greenverbs has been proclaimed to be ‘esteemed’ and protected by the Government …with his stolen millions?
Have you noticed that while these BIDC 60 year-olds and NCC workers are AXED, the governor of the Central Bank is approaching 95 and going doltish on the job ….talking shiite, banning newspapers, and cancelling press conferences…
These DLP people like they are mad as shiite hear…????
Thank God for the new NUPW president…
Shiite man… it is so REFRESHING to hear a Bajan in leadership… who seems to have BALLS, common sense, GUTS and a willingness to serve at the National level.
Caswell, you should note the last quality…. 🙂
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