ABWU’s 2023 training agenda is underway, with industrial-relations workshops for shop stewards being first

The Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU) is hosting a training series that is aimed at bolstering the industrial-relations skills of its membership.

More than 80 shop stewards will get an opportunity to participate in the programme, which will be held at the Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union headquarters over the next few months.

The first in the series of workshops was held on Monday, February 27, and targeted shop stewards employed in the hospitality sector.

In opening the session, Deputy General-Secretary Chester Hughes assured participants that training remains a top priority on the Union’s agenda.

Hughes says the Workers Union wants to ensure that its shop stewards are properly equipped with knowledge of the Labour Code and their Collective Bargaining Agreements, “so that when they speak, they will speak with authority and not be wondering if what they’re saying is correct.”

According to the Union, participants will be trained in two modules: The Collective Bargaining Process and Division C of the Labour Code, which will be facilitated by Deputy Labour Commissioner Pascal Kentish.

Shop stewards from the banking and insurance sectors had their day on Tuesday, February 28, while those in the transport and utility sectors will be hosted later in March, the Union says.

Meanwhile, the Union’s senior industrial relations and training officer, Hazel Luke, says it has prepared an extensive and exciting training calendar for 2023.

On the agenda, she says, are workshops on a variety of subject areas, including Occupational Health and Safety and Customer Care. Money-management training will also be offered, with the objective of helping persons to prepare for retirement.

Also on this year’s training calendar are math and English courses, which will begin in April and will be available to the general public.