Unity Workers Union Considers Legal Action Against Barbados Revenue Authority for Non-Recognition Issue

The Unity Workers Union (UWU) is contemplating suing the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) over its continued non-recognition of the trade union, despite it representing more than 100 employees who work at the stateowned enterprise.

The Saturday Sun yesterday obtained a copy of a pre-action letter dated June 20 which was sent to the Barbados Revenue Authority by UWU’s attorney-at-law, Hal Gollop, KC, in which the union’s legal team again informed BRA of the level of UWU membership, and asked the Board of Management of BRA to investigate the matter urgently.

Gollop pointed out to BRA that Caswell Franklyn, as general secretary of the Unity Workers Union, in a letter sent in October 2023, informed them that the UWU had accepted membership applications for 95 of its workers.

Largest number

Gollop also informed BRA that based on that information, the number was the largest number of unionised staff at the organisation, which was why UWU sought joint recognition as a bargaining agent for the staff. He noted that BRA did not accede to the UWU’s recognition request, and the reason given for the refusal was that the union did not have sufficient membership.

“We are further instructed that your reasoning for the refusal also involved a false premise that there is a requirement to have a majority of the staff members, namely 50 per cent plus one, within its membership. Our client was at pains to point out that following this stipulation, there were already two recognised unions, namely the National Union of Public Workers and the Barbados Workers Union. That being the case, it was impossible for each union to meet the stipulated threshold of having 50 per cent within its membership,” the attorney also advised in the pre-action letter.