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| Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, addressing persons at the May Day celebrations at Browne’s Beach. (C. Pitt/BGIS) |
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has pledged to address the deficiencies in the Public Service Act (2007) and has issued a challenge to the trade union movement to offer suggestions on ways to make it better.
He gave this undertaking while addressing the signing of Protocol VI yesterday, as part of the Barbados Workers Union’s (BWU) ??May Day celebrations at Browne’s Beach on Bay Street, St. Michael.
The Prime Minister reasoned that the legislation was "hastily put together and rushed through Parliament and as a result, it manifests many weaknesses which are occasioning hardship to the public service of Barbados". ??
Given this situation, Mr. Stuart said government would revisit the existing legislation and field comments from the trade unions and other interested parties.?? "Government is already revisiting this piece of legislation and would welcome any suggestions from the unions and others, so that the legislation can satisfy the demands of labour, society and government, and do justice on the public service."
He also paid tribute to the former President of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations and General Secretary of the BWU, Sir Roy Trotman, for his sterling contribution to the labour movement and the Social Partnership, by extension.
Mr. Stuart also praised the Social Partnership and added: "Barbados now has a model which is the envy of the countries across the world.?? Gone are the days where the relationship between labour and capital is adversarial…We have now matured to the stage where labour and capital can sit down on the basis of trust and respect on both sides to arrive at a solution to the problems of Barbados."