The permanent shutdown of Berger Paints’ Barbados manufacturing facility on Friday April 24 has pushed 44 longtime employees into sudden unemployment, with the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) now escalating demands to block full corporate dissolution of the firm until all outstanding worker entitlements are resolved.
For workers like Rodney Wilkinson, the closure brings an abrupt end to a decades-long career that shaped much of his adult life. Wilkinson joined the company straight out of high school and spent 33 years on the job, building deep personal bonds with colleagues while relying on his steady income to support his four children — two of whom are still young enough to attend nursery and primary school. He first learned of the permanent closure while out on medical leave, a surprise announcement that many workers received for the first time when the company publicized the shutdown plan back in February.
Wilkinson recalled that his team of co-workers had grown into a tight-knit extended family over the years, watching each other’s children grow up and build their own lives. Losing that workplace community has left him heartbroken, he said, even with the one-time severance payout he received upon exit. “Many people assume a severance check provides long-term security, but that money disappears almost immediately once you cover utility bills, school costs, and everyday family expenses,” he explained. Despite the upheaval, Wilkinson remains optimistic, framing the job loss as a major life change rather than an endpoint: “Life goes on, and we have to keep moving forward.”
Beyond the personal disruption of mass unemployment, multiple labor disputes remain unresolved between the company, the union, and the affected workers. BWU General Secretary Toni Moore told reporters on Friday that three key cases are already pending before the national Employment Rights Tribunal, centered on stalled wage negotiations and unequal incentive payments. Moore confirmed that non-union employees at the facility received full incentive payouts, while union-member workers were denied these funds — a disparity that has not been corrected in the final severance payments workers received last week.
Union representatives also identified widespread calculation irregularities in the final payment documentation provided to exiting workers, leaving many undercompensated for owed entitlements. None of the funds distributed to date address the outstanding wage negotiation claims or the unequal incentive payment dispute, Moore added.
Following a Friday meeting with Barbados’ Minister of Labour Colin Jordan, the BWU received an official update on the conciliation process outlined in the country’s Employment Act, a structured dispute resolution framework that uses a neutral third-party conciliator to help negotiating parties reach a mutually acceptable agreement. Over the past two weeks, union leaders have held multiple direct talks with company representatives to push for resolution of the outstanding claims, but no agreement has been reached.
To pressure the company to address worker grievances, the BWU is calling on government agencies to halt the full corporate dissolution of Berger Barbados until all disputes are resolved fairly. The union has formally requested that the Ministry of Labour issue official notices to all relevant government bodies, including the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office (CAIPO), to block the dissolution process until the workers receive the justice and fair compensation they are owed.