Bajan ministers slam labour leader over Jew remark

(Barbados Nation) Two government ministers soundly criticized Barbados Workers’ Union general secretary Sir Roy Trotman on the floor of Parliament yesterday for calling an employer an “Egyptian Jew”.

During debate on the Employment Rights Bill in the House of Assembly, Minister of Health Donville Inniss and Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy likened the union leader’s behaviour to “guerrilla tactics” and the “law of the fist”.

It was the latest outpouring of criticism heaped on Sir Roy since his fiery May Day speech which dealt with allegedly unfair dismissals from the jewellery store Diamonds International.

Inniss told the Lower Chamber there was a need in the society for enlightened leadership in the labour movement, and that such leadership  should “recognize the benefits of quiet diplomacy as opposed to guerrilla warfare tactics that were more in keeping with the behaviour of a raging bull in a china shop”.