FOR many Saint Lucian workers, May Day might just end up being paid another day away from work. For others, however, the special day serves as a moment to pause and reflect on the seemingly insurmountable challenges workers and their trade unions have had to overcome just to be able to be afforded that day off, among other rights.
The plight of the Saint Lucian worker gets played out in the media almost every day, either through some workers finally gaining union recognition or paid retroactive pay increases owed for many years. Let’s face it: workers really do have to put up with too many injustices at their places of work.
Whether it is the public or private sector, trade unions have had to face down over the years in pursuit of better working conditions for their members, the daunting challenges on the road to collective bargaining and better working conditions must not go unnoticed. It must take some special kind of courage for trade unionists to walk into negotiating rooms and articulate just why their members deserve the best when employers scream they can only offer less.
Nevertheless, the true value of the Saint Lucian worker should not be underestimated, especially those who go above and beyond their job descriptions to ensure that their companies remain viable and that they remain employed. In many instances, workers go beyond their working hours in order to prove just how valuable they are to their companies albeit not seeking nor earning any extra credit or recognition.
But workers are also consumers and not just people who work long hours. In fact, it is their dollar’s value that they complain about increasingly these days, especially when there seems virtually no system in place to stem the devaluing of their hard-earned wages and salaries by unscrupulous business-places offering goods and services.
That is why the government, and especially Minister for Commerce, Emma Hippolyte, must be commended for ensuring that the Consumer Protection Bill was enacted recently. A great measure of praise must also go to former president of the National Consumers Association, Kingsley St. Hill, and other NCA stalwarts such as Andrew Antoine and Hubert James.
Especially in a business climate when consumers are speaking up louder about not getting value for their money, such legislation intends to curb the abuses meted out by unscrupulous businesses. Despite being a longstanding promise to consumers, the Consumer Protection Act (No. 9 of 2016) is a major accomplishment and must be appreciated.
This May Day is also being observed just days after the election of a new team to represent Civil Service Association (CSA) members. Especially over the past few years, the media has been replete with that organization’s in-house rancour and disenchantment being ventilated in public. Hopefully, yesterday’s election results serve to strengthen the CSA’s membership and renews the CSA’s commitment to working in the best interest of its members.
To all Saint Lucian workers, have a well-deserved and reflective May Day.