January 19, 2021
It may serve the leadership of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) well to begin paying greater attention to Senator Caswell Franklyn’s Unity Workers’ Union (UWU).
From our position in the public square, it appears that there is growing confidence in the fledgling UWU, and more specifically its leader, who has shown great tenacity and dogged commitment to the ideals of protecting the ordinary worker against exploitation by this island’s employers.
We would never argue that there is no place for an expanded number of trade unions. There is nothing wrong with choice. But after seven decades of stellar contributions to workers’ rights and empowerment, it is sad to witness the BWU’s apparent diminishing standing.
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It appears it is not only the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) that is bleeding key membership of late, as the Joseph Atherley-led People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) lost one of its high-ranking members with three more expected to go.
After his defection was made public yesterday by DLP president Verla De Peiza, Paul Gibson, who served two years as the spokesperson on health for the PdP, confirmed that he had joined the “party of Errol Barrow”.
The Weekend Nation confirmed that Dave Walrond, the man who contested the St George North by-election on the PdP ticket, is also making similar moves, so too is the party’s spokesperson on culture, Allan Springer. A source has also revealed that a fourth member of the party is contemplating leaving elective politics altogether, however efforts to reach that individual were unsuccessful.
First Alleyne, now Gibson swaps party allegiances
Article by January 15, 2021
Less than 24 hours after the resignation of one of its own rising stars, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has embraced a former member of the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP), Paul Gibson, into its fold.
During a virtual meeting Thursday, DLP president Verla De Peiza announced that Gibson, a pharmacist who served as the PdP’s spokesman for health, joined the party “sometime this week”. He is an apparent replacement for Simon Alleyne, the DLP’s former health spokesman, who announced he was quitting the party, expressing an interest in switching to the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP).
"Ridiculous" is how Opposition leader, Joseph Atherley described Government's announcement that they will be offering paid return trips to visitors on Saturday.
January 6, 2021
The Mia Mottley-led administration is being accused of playing “Russian Roulette” with the lives of Barbadians.
It has come from Opposition Leader Reverend Joseph Atherley, who has condemned Government’s decision to keep the island’s borders open to visitors from the UK and other high-risked countries despite an upsurge in the number of local COVID-19 cases.
Yesterday, during a live televised COVID-19 update, Mottley said a shutdown of the country’s borders or a lockdown could lead to more economic hardship for Barbadians already struggling due to the pandemic.
“What we are very clear on is that a national shutdown of our borders or a lockdown will carry significant pressures to other types of persons and to all kinds of issues. If we were to shut down the country as some are asking for, then we would run the risk of persons not being able to carry out their duties,” the Prime Minister said.