PM says ABWU is doing a bad job for hotel workers

Prime Minister Gaston Browne is calling on the Antigua and Trades and Labour
Union (AT&LU) to reach out to hotels workers to offer them representation
because he believes that the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) is
doing a poor job representing these workers.
Speaking at the joint Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party/AT&LU Rally at the VC
Bird Bust on Lower Market Street on Monday (Labour Day), Prime Minister
Browne said the ABWU has represented workers in the hotel industry for more
than thirty years without getting proper increases for them over that time.
He noted that his administration had increased the minimum wage twice since
coming to office almost ten years ago and that this has resulted in hotel workers
making only three percent more than do those working for minimum wage.
He said this is due primarily to the poor job that the AWBU is doing on behalf of
hotel workers.
“I say to the AT&LU, as you continue to re-align, its not just about Artificial
Intelligence and ICT’s, you must look at the basics, you must look outside of the
public sector and to realise that there are workers in the private sector who are
suffering and are in need of the services of the AT&LU. You must now target the
hotel workers whose lot has not improved in the last thirty years. You know why;
that’s because they are represented by the ABWU and the leadership has been
‘sold out’ to the hoteliers in the country,” PM Browne contends.
Browne is accusing the ABWU leadership of ‘having no use’ for workers and only
‘use them’ for political reasons. “I say to the AT&LU, you have an opportunity to
expand your base; go to the various work place; go to the hotels in the country and
say to the workers that you are the best suited to represent them because with your
alignment with the ABLP, you cannot sell out to any employer in this country,” he
declared.
According to the prime minister hotel workers are not able to earn a decent pay
because the ABWU has not pursued their cause as it should. “Hotel workers cannot
afford a car loan; they cannot pay a mortgage,” he stated. This he suggests is
because of this level of ‘mis-representation’ from the ABWU.