General Secretary of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) Dennis DePeiza has charged that a plan is afoot to undermine the organisation and divide the local labour movement.Speaking during CTUSAB’s annual end-of-year press conference on Wednesday morning, he said it appeared the aim was to create “constructive chaos” by not acknowledging CTUSAB as the umbrella body for trade unions.If that is allowed to continue, DePeiza maintained, it had the potential to destroy CTUSAB.The Congress represents the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT), the Barbados Nurses Association, the Barbados Fire Service Association, the Police Association, the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) and the Sugar Industry Staff Association.Neither the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) nor the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) fall under CTUSAB.“What concerns us is what appears to be an ongoing fragmentation of the CTUSAB labour movement. That fragmentation comes when, on attending meetings, CTUSAB is supposed to represent its constituents, but what we have found over time is that our constituents are being accommodated at the table in their individual right.
