By Theresa Goodwin
The head of one of the country’s main trade unions is calling for dialogue between the government and key players in the labour movement, employers and employees, to hammer out a plan to address challenges plaguing the workforce.
General Secretary of the Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU) Senator David Massiah made the call during a radio interview Thursday morning ahead of Monday’s Labour Day celebrations.
He also stated that the union no longer has confidence that the current government is capable of managing the country’s economy.
“We have no confidence in the government; the government continues to show or demonstrate its disregard for the contribution of workers in building this economy and has not taken them on board in trying to address the situation.
“That is one of the reasons as well that we want workers to understand that they must come out and march and demonstrate for themselves and let us come together to put our voices to say to the government ‘enough is enough’,” Massiah added.
He also maintains that while the government continues to boast of economic growth, workers in the various sectors are not experiencing the benefits in their daily lives.
“They are not seeing the growth. When you talk about tourism as our main industry, when you look at it, I mean, already we’re going into the slow season of the tourism industry, and what we’re seeing is a retraction.
“And so, workers now have to be going under rotation of work because the main challenges are out there. The hotels are saying, ‘well look, operating in this climate is so expensive’,” Massiah said.
The union official is therefore encouraging workers to join with the ABWU and its affiliate, the United Progressive Party (UPP), and others on Labour Day as they seek to lobby for the rights of workers.
The event will be punctuated by speeches at the union’s lower Newgate Street headquarters while the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) will join the Antigua Trades and Labour Union (AT&LU) at the Sir Vere Cornwall Bird bust on lower Market Street for their activities.