Clouds roll over Barbados’ tourist industry

A deal embracing a 6.25 percent wage hike put an end to a strike staged by Barbados’ tourist workers in demand of higher salaries. The agreement –expected to be in force for two years- was signed after long hours of negotiations between the Ministry of Labor and the sector’s trade union.

According to the official document, during the first year the industry’s employees will get a 3 percent wage increase with the remaining 3.25 percent coming in the second year.

Both parties also agreed that salary bonuses won’t be retroactive since a moratorium deal stretching from December 2001 to the same month in 2002 was equally cut.

The pact includes a provision dealing with payment ways and means for those workers subjected to labor furloughs.

The salary accruement will not only benefit workers but also the whole industry whose operations are run on a nonstop basis.

Like in most Caribbean nations whose economies rely chiefly on the travel industry, tourism accounts for Barbados’ number-one source of revenues.