Is Union’s Action Political Motivated?

Dean Barrow

Expanding on his separation of the politically motivated activities of the past month from the purely civic-minded concerns, Prime Minister Barrow placed Monday’s demonstration in the latter category, though he still had some misgivings.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Not politically motivated in a partisan way; no. I will not say that. Look for me, you are not going to get anything said that can ever be interpreted as any disrespect for the B.N.T.U.  I stand by my position that strictly social and political issues raised in their letter—and I repeat not political in a partisan way, but they are political in the larger sense of the meaning of the word—I stand by my position that those issues do not constitute a labour dispute and so there is a whole question of whether the strike legally is justified. But it is pointless to get into that because it will happen and there is nothing government wants to do to oblige the unions not to proceed in the way they are determined to go. We will see to persuade it; we’ll see to appeal to it, but it stops there.”