A long-awaited public sector job evaluation in Barbados is getting a second look after the country’s largest public service advocacy group raised formal red flags over inconsistencies in the process. Barbados TODAY has confirmed that independent advisors contracted by the government have agreed to revisit disputed sections of the final Jobs Evaluation Report, following a proactive meeting between leaders of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and senior officials from the Ministry of the Public Service held earlier this week.
NUPW General Secretary Richard Green told reporters that the union initiated the meeting after compiling feedback from its 20,000-plus members across government departments and state-owned enterprises, who reported irregularities in how their positions were scored and categorized. “Based on the firsthand accounts from our members and our own observations of how the evaluation exercise played out, we identified a number of pressing issues that needed to be raised to authorities,” Green explained in an interview after the meeting.
Among the core concerns the union presented were widespread inconsistencies in the application of scoring criteria, as well as multiple cases where positions were incorrectly categorized as red-circled rather than green-circled, a classification that can impact compensation and career progression for public workers. Green emphasized that the union has called for targeted adjustments to correct these misclassifications and scoring errors.
Following productive talks, both sides have agreed to next steps: government-hired consultants will conduct a full re-examination of the disputed positions, while the union will complete its own internal review of the contested roles to refine its concerns. Green declined to share details on the specific roles under review, noting that the union is committed to giving independent consultants adequate time and space to address the issues before making further disclosures.
Green stressed that the entire process remains active and ongoing, and the NUPW moved quickly to flag concerns in the earliest stages to protect the interests of its membership. “We proactively called for this meeting because our priority is getting this right for the workers we represent,” he said. “We are moving as swiftly as possible through every step, and we stand ready to move forward as soon as the consultants complete their review.”
The next major milestone for the union will be a general meeting with its wider membership, where leaders will walk through the union’s initial findings, answer questions for workers, and collect additional on-the-ground feedback about how the evaluation has impacted their roles. While Green declined to set a rigid deadline for completion of the full review, he confirmed the union is targeting a final resolution before the end of the calendar year.
This marks the first comprehensive public sector job evaluation conducted in Barbados in two decades, a process designed to update compensation and role classifications to reflect changes in the labor market. Green noted that the core goal of the evaluation is to align public sector pay with current market rates, account for evolving skill requirements for modern public service roles, and improve overall efficiency of government operations while ensuring workers receive fair compensation for their contributions. The NUPW’s intervention comes as it works to ensure this decades-overdue reform delivers on that promise for all public workers.