ABWU exec calls for laws against worker exploitation
The Deputy General Secretary of the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU), Chester Hughes, who was speaking during the union’s virtual Labour Day ceremony.
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The Deputy General Secretary of the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) has made a strident call for the government to enact legislation to protect workers from exploitation.
“We need legislation; severance legislation, unemployment legislation, to protect us from exploitation,” Chester Hughes said during the union’s Labour Day ceremony on Monday morning.
He said workers are facing challenges that they have never seen or experienced before in the workplace, adding that the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic has been used as an excuse for businesses to mistreat employees.
Call for urgent tourism meeting to mitigate against losses from UK lockdown
The head of the union which represents a wide cross-section of hotel workers is calling for an urgent meeting with tourism industry heads to discuss the impact of the latest lockdown in England and its impact on the already fragile sector.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last Monday that the country would be placed into a third lockdown in a bid to control a recent surge of coronavirus cases and deaths.
People were told to stay at home apart from essential activities such as food shopping or to provide care to another person, and non-essential businesses are closed.
The government is accelerating arrangements to have the Jolly Beach Resort transitioned into a Covid-19 quarantine facility.
Cabinet spokesman Melford Nicholas said that the facility is likely to be ready for use within two weeks and will accommodate persons placed in government quarantine and isolation.
“Jolly Beach is in a state of flux, it is in receivership and so it’s a question of working with the receivers to ensure that we can put a management team in place to manage the health services that we want to do at that facility,” Nicholas told a press briefing yesterday.
However, in excess of 400 people who were once employed at the resort are still without outstanding wages, benefits and severance. It is now almost a year since the resort closed in March 2020 and the monies cannot come soon enough for these workers who have in some cases managed to secure menial jobs, working only three days a week.
Union ‘surprised’ port matter was brought before the Industrial Court
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The Industrial Court has been asked to resolve a dispute between employees and the management at the Antigua Port Authority.
On Monday, an emergency hearing was held at the court, after Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin filed memoranda, asking the court to make a judgement on whether port workers are entitled to take action over unpaid annual bonuses and advances.
In December 2020, the workers, through the ABWU, threatened to take industrial action if they were not paid the 3.5 percent annual bonus as outlined in their collective agreement.
Deputy Secretary General of the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) Chester Hughes said that the union was prepared to take legal action if a resolution was not forthcoming.
By Elesha George Elesha.george@antiguaobserver.com Deputy Secretary General of the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) said the Covid-19 measures recently…