President of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB), Edwin O’Neal is warning that a dark cloud of industrial action is looming over the state-run Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC).
O’Neal told the DAILY NATION yesterday, the BAMC had opted to “arbitrarily dismiss” an employee without adhering to the tenets of natural justice.
He warned that while they had called on the Chief Labour Officer to urgently intervene in this matter, they were not prepared to “wait around indefinitely”, before they escalate the matter.
“We are not only prepared to take industrial action, we have written to the Chief Labour Officer informing them that because of the BAMC’s behaviour, there is now an industrial dispute at BAMC and it will escalate,” he said.
O’Neal disclosed that the dispute stems from the dismissal of the internal auditor, whose disciplinary hearing was adjourned last Friday, only [for her] to be fired on Tuesday.
(CM)