Union rejects Browne’s spurious claims and says Administration’s anti-worker posture has pauperised the people

The Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU) is condemning
unsubstantiated accusations made by Prime Minister Gaston Browne during
the Antigua Trades and Labour Union rally held on Monday, May 6, Labour
Day.

Browne accused some top members of the Union of taking bribes
from hoteliers and neglecting the interest of workers.

However, according to the Union, “these accusations are nothing more than
mischievous tactics designed to undermine the confidence of workers in their
Union.”
 
In a press statement, the Workers’ Union says that its membership recognizes
these comments for what they really are: a deflection from the failed social
and economic policies of the Gaston Browne Administration.
 
In countering Browne’s allegations, the Union highlighted several important
benefits that hotel workers have received through the Union, including a thrift

fund covering thousands of hotel workers included on the Antigua and
Barbuda Hotels and Tourism Association (ABHTA) contract.
 
With the help of the ABWU, hotel workers have also been the beneficiaries of
medical insurance coverage for themselves and their families, and they
continue to receive all their negotiated increases to date, the bargaining agent
points out.
 
“While these achievements are significant and have added tremendous value
to the lives of hotel workers, it is the Government’s uncaring policies over the
last nine years that have diminished and even eroded the impact of many of
these benefits,” the Union asserts.
 
Union officials say the Browne Administration has repeatedly turned a deaf
ear to hotel workers, who have been pleading for relief from the skyrocketing
cost of living.
 
If hotel workers are unable to afford a car or secure a mortgage, as PM
Browne has claimed, then that is an indictment on his administration’s social
and economic policies and not on the Union, officers say, and pundits agree.
 
Had Browne and his government been truly concerned about the financial
well-being of hotel workers, as they now claim, then they should not have
vehemently opposed the labour union’s minimum-wage proposal of $10 per
hour and opted for $9, the Union states.
 
Meanwhile, it adds, it is the policies and anti-worker posture of this
administration that continue to pauperise workers in Antigua and Barbuda.
 
The Union reminds the Browne Administration that hotel workers struggled
through the COVID-19 pandemic with minimal support from the Government;
and, in many cases, it was the thrift fund established through the Workers’
Union’s foresight that saved many families from complete ruin.
 
Hotel workers are not gullible and simple-minded, as PM Browne seems to
believe. Instead, they are observing the facts and analysing the actions of the
Government, the Union concludes.