The Organized Workers and Labourers (OWL) Union held its official launching ceremony, on Monday September 7th, at its headquarters in The Valley. Present at the ceremony were government officials: Labour Commissioner, Mrs Aunika Lake and Mrs. Evalie Bradley; members of the public and the executive members of the Union which included: Mr. Yusuf Abdul Ali, President; Ms Pamela Riley, Vice President; Beverly Richardson, Treasurer; Ameli Richardson, Assistant Treasurer; Jeannette Guzman, General Secretary and Tamiika Richards, Assistant secretary.
The main objectives of the Union are:
• To establish an organization that will represent all employees of Anguilla in collective bargaining with respect to salaries, wages, hours of work and other terms and conditions of employment.
• To promote the moral, social and economic well-being of all the members.
• To protect and uphold the individual and collective rights of all the members.
• To foster harmonious and progressive labour-management relations.
• To strive for the adoption of legislation, policies and other measures that will promote the economic, social and general well-being of all the members, in particular, and the working class in general.
• To promote the education and awareness of all the members in regard to their rights and obligations as union members and as employees, the present relations system, the existing collective bargaining agreements (CBA) and all other matters that directly or indirectly affect them.
• To ensure that Anguilla has a fair livable wage.”
Speaking during the ceremony, Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Pam Webster, commented: “We, as Anguillians, need to unite to be able through the union to show the dignity of human work; and to demonstrate that we respect and honour their contributions”.
Visiting President of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union, Ms Nicole Martin, spoke during the ceremony on the paradigm shift in organizing our community. She stated: “If you are going to change anything, it first starts with a thought, and if we have in our minds that Anguilla can be a better place – and if all of the stakeholders do their part, tripartism is extremely important because it represents all the pillars of an economy, the government, the employer and the workers.”
Other speakers at the ceremony were retired justice, Mr. Don Mitchell, and Mr. Kennedy Hodge.
Union President, Mr. Yusuf Ali, concluded the ceremony. He urged Anguillians to “put aside any animosities, ideologies and focus on one main ideology that we must come together as one people, as unity makes us strong.”
The Union’s office is located in the Walter Hodge Complex (at the back of the Anguilla Drugstore) and it open every weekday from 8 am to 4 pm.
