Friday, April 14 is one of many significant days on our national calendar. It is the anniversary of the 1816 Bussa Rebellion and is also now the start of the annual Season of Emancipation.The slave rebellion here was the first of three slave uprisings that took place in the West Indies. Enslaved men and women who worked on several estates and plantations believed that Barbados belonged to them and wanted their freedom from the plantation owners. After much bloodshed, their freedom was granted.Many may argue there are certain rights, freedoms and privileges that are still being fought for today, 207 years later.While we are now a population made up of a Black majority, the issue of race may have taken a back seat to other challenges.One major fight that continues is the labour fight, once between worker and owner now between employee and employer.Just this week, General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Richard Green lamented that the Employment Rights Tribunal (ERT), the legal and justice framework set up to deal with worker’s challenges, has not been given the resources it needs to efficiently carry out its duties.
