People’s Union says essential services law is being weaponised against workers

By Tahna Weston
tahna.weston@antiguaobserver.com
The People’s Union has accused employers and government agencies of using essential services legislation to prevent workers from taking industrial action, warning that the practice could lead to confrontation.
Speaking at the Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union’s 59th Annual Delegates’ Conference, People’s Union president Ralph Potter said the law requires essential services workers to give 14 days’ notice before taking industrial action. He said the requirement was originally intended to bring reluctant employers to the negotiating table.
Potter said employers are instead using the notice period to take disputes straight to the Industrial Court without negotiating, leaving workers unable to act while they await a ruling.
“We are not going to allow that to be used as a weapon to really harm and destroy working people because that was not the intention of the Act when it was passed,” Potter said.
Potter said the practice involved both private employers and, more significantly, government institutions. He said the union would no longer accept it.
He said the collective bargaining system, designed for good-faith negotiations between employers and workers, was being undermined.
“And we are prepared to challenge it and to take what measures are necessary,” Potter said.
Potter told fellow trade unionists to prepare for a fight, saying gains for workers are never freely given but must be fought for.
“There are bloody noses that has to be given if we are going to secure the benefits that workers and workers’ organisations have secured over the many years, to secure them, to maintain them, and to improve on those benefits,” Potter said.
He said this did not mean the union was anti-employer, adding that a thriving business sector ultimately benefits workers too.