Latinnews Archive

Caribbean & Central America - 7 November 1991

Sandiford faces internal DLP revolt; UNIONS AND OPPOSITION BLP PLAN ANTI-AUSTERITY MARCHES

The St Michael East constituency branch of the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) revolted against the DLP government in mid-October, passing a motion of 'no confidence in the administration of Erskine Sandiford or the government of Barbados.'

The constituency, once the power-base of the controversial former cabinet minister Don Blackman, who quit politics earlier this year, claims it has been hit particularly hard by the austerity programme being implemented by the Sandiford government at the behest of the IMF, from whom the government has been seeking US$ 58.1m in loans (RC-91-07 & 08).


Recent measures have included a 8% public sector pay cut coupled with a two-year wage freeze starting October (Sandiford has also urged the private sector to freeze wages for two years), the lay-off of almost 2,000 workers, and tax increase. * One-man rule

Trevor Prescod, a former DLP government senator, led the St Michael East branch's attack on Sandiford's leadership, accusing him of turning the DLP away from its commitment to the poor, which the party had demonstrated under its late leader Errol Barrow. He also accused the prime minister of one-man rule. 'What we are seeing is one man making the decisions for 250,000. That can't be in the best interest of the country,' Prescod said.

* Organised protests

The internal DLP revolt came as an informal trade union coalition started mobilising Barbadians for a march on 24 October to protest against the austerity package. The coalition is led by Leroy Trotman, a government backbencher who voted against the package in parliament.

In mid-October, the main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) announced that it was also planning a protest march as part of a strategy to bring down the DLP government, which was re-elected for a second five-year term in January.


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