General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Toni Moore has chastised some players in the tourism and hotel industry for rolling back the rights of workers in the name of economic growth.Making her contribution to the Budget debate virtually in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, the Member of Parliament for St George North said that while many in the industry highlight the impressive growth in visitor arrivals over the last several months, there were some worrying trends in the industry.“While we may be using economic benchmarks to say . . . that sector has taken us back to pre-COVID 19 times, I hasten to add that that is just a quantitative and economic measure because in real terms, workers across the tourism sector, particularly in the hotels, have been seeing a repealing of the conditions of work that they enjoy,” the trade unionist said.Among the conditions putting workers “further back”, she said, are “being put into three- and six-month contracts, probation periods being expanded up to six months, workers not being afforded a staunch day, few rights and fewer job securities if you barely object to anything in a hotel”.
