By Tahna Weston
Logistics is said to be hindering a planned meeting between the Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU) and the management of Cost Pro over the supermarket’s intentions to slash working hours for line staff.
Following industrial action on June 3, a meeting was scheduled for store bosses to demonstrate to the union that their claim of business being slow is in fact the case.
Hugh Joseph, an industrial relations officer with the ABWU, claimed the supermarket wanted to reduce hours of work for dozens of its circa 100 staff without the requisite consultations and prior agreement of the union.
Joseph said the meeting will give the union a clearer understanding of the supermarket’s claims of a financial falloff, and a determination would then be made as to whether the proposal of a reduced work week is warranted.
The company is said to do business with a number of local hotels. With resorts now going through the low tourist season, sales are apparently down.
Consequently, the union says, a decision was taken that Cost Pro does not need as many staff.
“The concerns were addressed and that’s why the workers went back to work. But that meeting that we’re supposed to have with management, no, that has not yet materialised,” Joseph told Observer.
“We have been trying to meet but because of logistics, we have not been able to settle on a date.
“But from our end everything has gone back to the way they were. Management wanted to present to us an argument as to why they wanted to reduce the work week…because the action was taken as a result of management reducing the work week without any proper consultation with the union and agreement reached between both parties,” said Joseph.
The ABWU felt that it was short notice with regards to reduced work hours, which went from 44 hours a week based on the workers’ collective bargaining agreement to 40 hours.
The union had argued that the supermarket’s management should have first held discussions with the body instead of just issuing a memo.
According to the ABWU, the supermarket needs to show where it is losing revenue, so the union can meet with the employees and give them an accurate picture of the situation.
The union added that it has to be fair to the business as well, making sure it continues to survive, rather than demanding it maintains its workforce and is then unable to meet payroll.
