Barbados gov't says no to Big Mac

Caribbean News Agency, 13 March 2000

Bridgetown, Barbados, CANA - The Barbados Cabinet has rejected the second application from T-Bone Investments to open a McDonalds restaurant in Bridgetown this year, the Sunday Sun newspaper reported. The newspaper quoted a government official as saying there were many factors which influenced the decision, chief among them objections from the Barbados Workers Union (BWU), Chefette Restaurants and the current World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks on trade in services. "The BWU would have had to represent the views of its members who, after, after they were laid off in the early 1990s, went into the food business. There were, therefore, concerns about the dominant market position of McDonalds and how it could hurt the business of these persons," the source said.