Labour Minister Colin Jordan has warned that businesses which exploit workers and sidestep social security obligations could be denied access to government contracts, signalling a tougher stance on labour protections as Barbados confronts the rise of insecure, non-standard employment.
As the House of Assembly backed a resolution to establish portable social security benefits tabled by government backbencher and Barbados Workers Union General Secretary Toni Moore MP, Jordan declared that the state must become “hostile” to “unsavoury” businesses that exploit workers, suggesting that those who bypass social protections should be barred from receiving government contracts.
Moore’s private member’s resolution seeks to expand protections for workers in non-standard employment, particularly those in the burgeoning “gig” and platform economies.
Jordan’s primary target was the culture of “shortcuts” he believes has permeated the construction and tourism industries in particular, accusing companies of gaining unfair competitive advantage by failing to pay National Insurance contributions or provide basic labour rights, often at the expense of ethical businesses.
“I saw a decent company — a company that treated its workers as human beings — go out of business. The other company, which was not as nice, is still in business,” Jordan told the chamber. He characterised these unethical practices as “dirty” and “unsavoury”, asserting that the government has a moral obligation to intervene.
“Those of us who sit here, particularly as ministers, have a responsibility to ensure that those organisations that treat their employees in a less than desirable manner… do not benefit from public funds. In other words, that they don’t get contracts.”
He directed his appeal specifically to ministries overseeing infrastructure and productive sectors, calling on both political and technical leaders to ensure that “bad people” are not rewarded with taxpayer dollars.
Central to Jordan’s argument was a critique of how modern industry perceives “labour”. He challenged the notion that workers are merely units of production, comparing the meticulous care given to industrial machinery with the frequent neglect of human staff.
“We cover down machinery. We service machinery. We do all kinds of things for inanimate objects,” Jordan noted. “Workers who are human beings deserve not similar protection; they deserve greater protection because of their humanity. They are people.”
This “human-centred” model of development, Jordan argued, is the foundation of Barbados’ historical progress. He credited the advocacy of trade unions and the governing Barbados Labour Party’s roots for the social gains made over the last 90 years, emphasising that economic productivity is impossible if the “drivers of development” are not secured.
The debate highlighted the rise of the “precariat” — a term Jordan borrowed from economist Guy Standing to describe those in precarious, informal work. With the surge of digital platforms for ride-hailing, translation and data entry, Jordan warned that the lack of human interaction in the “platform economy” makes social protection even more elusive.
“In the platform economy, you do not connect with a human being. The platform is the intermediary,” he explained. To address this, Jordan revealed that the ILO decent work team based in Trinidad has agreed to conduct a study on the platform economy in Barbados and Grenada to determine the true scale of this workforce.
Addressing the cost of social security, Jordan dismissed concerns that protecting informal workers is too expensive for the nation to bear. He argued that if a business cannot contribute to a system that allows a 68-year-old citizen to buy basic groceries, that business “shouldn’t be existing in this country”.
Jordan concluded with a firm rejection of political procrastination, using a vivid analogy to describe the government’s duty to act immediately on labour legislation.
“We will not be waiting for any perfect time to protect people,” the minister declared. “We do not believe that the rain should be falling and you should wait for some appropriate time before you run and put an umbrella over the person’s head. Once you realize the rain is starting to fall, you run out.”By endorsing the resolution and committing to a tripartite technical committee with the Barbados Workers’ Union, Jordan signalled that the government was moving towards a future where social security “follows the person”, regardless of their job title or the platform they use to find work.
(RR)
