Police were summoned yesterday (May 16) during a meeting between members of the executive of the Public Service Union (PSU) and workers at the Government Printery.
According to Elroy Boucher, the union scheduled a meeting discuss issues affecting workers at the Government printery located at Campden Park.
However, he told ANN that the Cabinet Secretary, Kattian Barnwell, called the police.
“They called the police, but I had already left,” Boucher told ANN saying that he had been reliable informed that 7 police officers had eventually shown up at the printery, and the police – when contacted – confirmed that they were called because there was a disturbance at the printery.
The PSU President said that the meeting was arranged to discuss the issue of pension reform and other matters, one relating to safety and health concerns.
It was alleged that workers have been complaining about the presence of Mold in the building resulting in respiratory issues among some workers and that workers have been subjected to inhaling fumes from one of the machines.
He said that the Union had been trying to meet with workers to discuss these matters for some time now but was continuously denied by Barnwell to proceed.
Boucher admitted that he did not seek permission for yesterday’s meeting.
“We decided, the Union along with the workers decided that we will have the meeting,” Boucher said.
“And we went there to have the meeting,” he continued.
He further contends that the meeting started a little after midday saying that by the time he had arrived, the meeting had already started.
It was explained that trade unions have the right to meet with its members to discuss important issues and that it was common practice to meet workers during working hours.
“It is a practice throughout all trade unions,” the PSU President told ANN.
But the Cabinet Secretary has always denied the event, and by extension, denied the workers the right to know about issues affecting them, Boucher added.
So, as a form of industrial action, he said that the Union decided that it was defy the Cabinet Secretary’s orders and decided to have the meeting at the printery.
However, when contacted, Errol Commissiong – Government Printer – said that the Union did in fact get permission to have the meeting and that they were told that the meeting can be held between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.
“They did not show up until after 1, so I told them to cancel or postpone the meeting until another time,” Commissiong told ANN.
According to the Government Prinster, Boucher was being uncooperative, and the police were summoned, but he denied that there was any disturbance at the printery.
He added that he spoke to the Cabinet Secretary who instructed him not to allow the PSU to go ahead with the meeting.
“So, then I called her and she did what she had to do,” Commissiong said adding that he was not in charge, but that the Cabinet Secretary was head of the department.
He said further that the denied them having the meeting because members of the Union arrived after 1 p.m. when the agreement was for the meeting to begin at 12:30.
According to Boucher, the meeting was held and the workers raised some of the issues affecting them, and that going forward, it was the Union’s intention to write Barnwell requesting a meeting to discuss the issues raised by the workers.
“It is the first time in the entire public service that a department head has called the police to arrest trade union members who went to a department to have a meeting,’ Boucher said.
Never before has there even been such an occurrence anywhere, and according to Boucher, all collective agreements have provisions to have meetings at the workplace with workers.
“That has always been the case, that is the common, accepted Union and industrial relations practice.”
Barnwell is the only one in the public service with whom they had encountered such a problem.
And it has been going on for the time since her appointment to the position of Cabinet Secretary.
“That has been going on for a very long time, such that very important issues that the workers wanted feedback in consultation, she has denied them that,” Boucher said.
The police confirmed that a report was made about a disturbance at the Government printery ,in which they replied . However when they got there, there was nothing unusual occurring.