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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHWN #1351/01 2961642
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231642Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
TO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1809
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1810
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J5 MIAMI FL
RUEHCV/USDAO CARACAS VE
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRIDGETOWN 001351 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR AND DRL 
USDOL FOR ILAB 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV PREL BB XL
SUBJECT: BARBADOS WORKER'S UNION DISPUTE WITH ADM BARBADOS 
OVER ALLEGED ILLEGAL FIRING OF WORKERS HEATING UP 
 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00001351  001.5 OF 003 
 
 
Summary:  The Barbados Workers' Union is charging that the 
AMCIT General Manager, Mr. Jim McCormick, of ADM Barbados has 
illegally fired local workers and outsourced their positions 
to contracted illegal Guyanese workers in contravention of 
local labor and immigration laws. ADM Barbados is the local 
subsidiary of the ADM corporation and is the largest importer 
of grain in Barbados. The fired workers have been coming to 
work every day since Monday October 15th but have been 
refused entry to the plant.  The Union has threathened to 
take legal action against the company, including trying to 
revoke the work permit of Mr. McCormick.  End Summary 
 
¶1. Sir Roy Trotman, General Secretary of the Barbados 
Workers' Union, sent the following letter to Laboff on 
Friday, October 19. 
 
Begin text: 
 
Dear Mr. Aller 
 
I am aware that part of your duties is to say (sic) on top of 
US business relations with the people of Barbados generally 
and particularly with the labour movement. 
 
In this connection and without prejudice, I am giving you 
early notice that my organization will be requesting the 
withdrawal of the work permit of the General Manager of the 
ADM Mills Barbados Limited, Mr. Jim Mc Cormick. 
 
There are several reasons for this, but the ones which are 
more critical for labour management relations is the 
company's wilful (sic) breaches of our labour laws, our 
social partnership protocals, including that of February 
1998, promoted by similar disrepect by another American 
employer (Offshore Keyboard Ltd.), and the blatantly 
inflammatory action of closing the company's gates to a union 
official where there is no dispute and refusing to discuss 
the genuine, legal concerns of employees over attempts to 
replace them by undocumented Guyanaese surreptitiously being 
recruited by a rum shop owner for the company. 
My organization has nothing to hide and will therefore keep 
you informed. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Sir Roy Trotman 
General Secretary 
 
¶2. Upon receipt of this letter, Laboff looked through the 
local press and found the following account of the work 
stoppage in the Nation, the leading daily paper.  Begin text; 
 
Mill workers still shut out 
 
Ten employees of ADM Barbados Mills are still shut out of the 
Spring Garden premises. The men have been showing up for work 
consistently at 7:30 am until 4:30 pm since Monday on the 
advice of the Barbados Worker's Union. 
 
Mill Union representative Walter Fenty told the Weekend 
Nation they were escorted off the premises last Friday.  He 
(Mill Manager Jim McCormick) called us in the office one by 
one and wanted us to sign a paper but we did not know what we 
were signing for and we said we were not signing without the 
union present.  "This man is frustrating the workers so we 
would take action in there, and then he could call the 
police.  We have worked a week and we want our money.   The 
men have children, bills to pay, stated Fenty, a supervisor 
who has worked for the mill for 15 years.  He told the guards 
to take us to the our lockers and then escort us off the 
premises.  The same work we were doing, he brought in other 
people to do it," Fenty said, adding their names were no 
longer on the employee list and they could not go past the 
guards. 
 
Gregory Babb, acting supervisor and forklift driver said, "we 
have a contract signed until 2009. Everything was settled. 
The men just want their week's pay from last week.  We have 
to buy food, Babb said.  BWU Assistant General Secretary 
Clifford Mayers met with the workers earlier this week.  We 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00001351  002.4 OF 003 
 
 
are awaiting a meeting with the Labour department (comment: 
the labour department is the branch of the labor ministry 
that handles labor management disputes end comment), but the 
employees have been advised (by the union) to remain on the 
job." he said. End of newspaper article. 
 
¶3.  The Nation, in a headline article titled "Get Him Out" 
reported October 21, that Sir Roy Trotman sent a letter to 
the Ministry of Home Affairs asking that Mr. McCormick's work 
permit be withdrawn. The article quote Sir Roy as saying, 
"This is sad, but it has become necessary because workers who 
have been working faithfully for this company have without 
notice, and though they have done nothing wrong, have found 
themselves being told they can no longer report to the 
company for work."  Sir Roy added, "They had waited all week 
on a neighboring spot while they watched people from another 
country doing the work they once were engaged in."  According 
to the article, 36 workers from the flour warehouse, the feed 
plant and drivers, have also sent a petition to the Ministry 
of Home Affairs, saying "they find their current work 
environment untenable due to the hostility, disharmony and 
fear that is being experienced daily because of Mr 
McCormick's attitude. 
 
¶4. The Nation reported on October 23, that ADM and the Union 
would meet with the Labor Commissioner.  Jessie McKinney of 
the Corporate Communications Department of ADM stated that 
they would abide by all local laws and regulations.  She also 
stated, "In light of the inaccurate information being 
circulated, ADM wishes to make it clear that no current 
employees are locked out of ADM Barbados Mills location." 
 
¶5.  Comment: In Barbados the social partnership protocols are 
taken quite seriously.  These protocols date back to the mid 
90's when Barbados when through a protracted balance of 
payments crisis.  The social partnership is a tripartite 
agreement among labour, unions and business to jointly meet 
and discuss and resolve labour management issues without 
going to a strike or other industrial actions.  Most of the 
Barbados major corporations are members of the social 
partnership. 
 
¶6. The issue of illegal Guyanese workers has been raised 
recently in the media. The labor union leadership is 
convinced that corporations are indeed outsourcing labor to 
illegal Guyanese who are recruited to come to Barbados 
through the assistance of labor contractors who operate out 
of ethnic rum shops throughout the island. 
 
¶7. Laboff met with Jim McCormick a few weeks ago. Mr 
McCormick said that his company would go through a 
restructuring program in early October, and he did not 
anticipate any problems as he had discussed it with Sir Roy 
in person.  He also said that the contracted workers would be 
Guyanese laborers and that ADM stood to save a lot of money 
on labor costs. End comments 
 
¶8.  Laboff spoke with Jim McCormick on Monday October 22, 
regarding this incident. Mr. McCormick stated that he had 
followed the letter of the law regarding the dismissal of ten 
workers.  He said that they were unhappy with the severance 
package.  He confirmed that he had hired a Guyanese labor 
contractor for the replacement workers, but that all the 
workers hired were local workers, - not Guyanese as he had 
earlier indicated. ADM will be meeting with the labor 
commission later this week to try to resolve this situation. 
The head of the Barbados Employers Federation, ADM company 
lawyers as well as union representatives, will attend the 
meeting. Mr. McCormick seemed confident that this situation 
will work itself out, and indicated that he thought that Sir 
Roy Trottman was exaggerating the situation for his own 
political benefit. He promised to provide laboff a readout of 
the meeting with the labor commission. 
 
 
¶9.  Laboff raised this issue with the labor Permsec during a 
courtesy call on Monday October 22. The Permsec noted that 
the case has not yet been forwarded to the labor 
commissioner's office so he had no official comment.  He did 
say though that if the company had indeed terminated 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00001351  003.5 OF 003 
 
 
employees and replaced them with lower paid employees that 
sort of action would be frowned upon as in violation of sound 
industrial relations. Laboff has left a message with Sir Roy 
Trotman but has not heard back from him. 
 
¶10. Laboff will follow this incident as it unfolds and report 
back after the labor commission meetings take place later 
this week. 
 
OURISMAN