May 2, 2023
By Kimberly Ramkhalawan
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has managed to rally the support of labour unions on May Day 2023 for the signing of the Declaration of Missions, a statement that seeks to empower locals all while creating a new Barbados that aims to be of world class standards.
In outlining the missions which constitutes the declaration, one in which she hopes to see her country transformed, Prime Minister Mottley championed her people to come on board over the next few months into a seven year period to become better for their country sakes.
Her impassioned call for a new Barbados came at the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) May Day celebrations and Intangible Cultural Heritage showcase by the National Cultural Foundation on Monday at the National Botanical Gardens, along with Barbados Social Partnership Representatives, Government, labour movement, private sector and civil society, who all agreed to the six missions, giving their enabling signatures to the declaration.
Mottley began her message in giving thanks for those who laboured and sacrificed in the years during which the nation engaged in the debt restructuring programme, and who endured even more during the pandemic. She reminded those gathered of the jobs which became the most noble during the pandemic, including the part played by all to which she said had it not been, her nation would have seen far worse.
But what has spurned post the pandemic, is the depths of the climate crisis issue, Mottley said, which raises the issue of what she dubs the ‘deep divisions and inequities’, all which was worsened with the pandemic. She notes that while it is understood it is not an easy world and challenges do still face the country, today was testament of making it if they stand together
She described the statement as one of the trusts in the people of Barbados.
In listing the six missions, Mottley shared that she envisioned by 2030, Barbados becoming a beautiful large and clean ocean state, championing sustainable development locally and globally with the goal of all domestic activities becoming 100 percent sustainable by 2035.
In her second, she added that it was her hope that by 2030, transform Barbados into a country of active involved citizens all Barbadians will feel empowered and engaged in the social, economic and cultural development of the country, as confident creative, compassionate and entrepreneurial citizens.
Third she added that by 2030, every Bajan has equitable and reliable access to clean water, and nutritious food that is affordable.
In fourth, Mottley say the mission aims to create a society that prioritizes wellness and happiness, improving public health and safety, leading to a 50 percent reduction of new cases of non-communicable diseases and 50 percent reduction in crime.
Empowering and enfranchise all Barbadians workers and families by creating opportunities for ownership and for wealth creation was listed as the fifth mission, one she hopes would enable Barbadians to take better care of themselves and each other and to reduce the rate of poverty by fifty percent, while in position Six, transforming Barbados to be a high functioning resilient society with seamless a access to services and meaningful digital inclusion for all Barbadians.
Mottley says this was for every single person present, pointing out to everyone she says who choses to make a difference in the land of their birth, all while declaring that these things are all achievable.
She closed by saluting her ministers and parliament secretaries along with public servants she says show they are able to make a difference in being able to achieve this, and called on them to hold eachother hands up in solidarity as she says they too will have to do the heavy lifting along with members of the private sector and the labour movement in the Country, who she described also constituted the leadership of this country.
Leading the signatures was BWU General Secretary Toni Moore, who explained her reasoning behind putting her pen to paper to those present at the observance, describing it as a document which represented a “small country’s commitment to a modern strategy aimed uniting this country around the challenges that the Social Partnership have identified and recognise to be challenges that we can prioritise, and there for around the missions to support through challenges”. She said she signs on along with her comrades “in recognizing that it is workers of Barbados who produce and allow this country to meet the challenges of this economy, so that Barbados can continue to be a force to reckon with, notwithstanding its size”. With the signing, she says they are signing “for a better future, for ourselves, our children, whose future depends on all of us”, with that she urged the crowd to turn to their neighbour and tell them it’s about you.
The May Day gathering saw Minister of Labour, Social Security and the Third Sector, Colin Jordan; President of the Barbados Private Sector Association, Tricia Tannis; President of the National Union of Public Workers, Kimberley Agard; President of the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union, Mary-Anne Redman all present.