THE 60 PLANTATION WORKERS recently sent home by CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited are back on the job.
CLICO president Terrence Thornhill yesterday confirmed that the workers returned to work on Monday, after having been sent on temporary leave since January 17.
Thornhill said at the time that the workers would be re-engaged in time for the February start of the 2011 sugar crop. They are among thousands of crop workers busily preparing for the upcoming reaping season.
Even as sugar stakeholders get ready to meet with the Barbados Workers Union and Barbados Employers Confederation to negotiate a new contract tomorrow, workers are wasting no time preparing the fields for the 2012 crop.
Apart from discussing money, the meeting will address the health of the workers, as well as ongoing discussions with employers pertaining to the transformation of the sugar industry.
On Tuesday, the DAILY NATION team spotted workers from H & G Farms hard at work in the fields at Easy Hall, cutting plant canes for the 2012 crop.
Men were busy chopping canes into segments that were then bagged by the women and loaded onto the tractor to be replanted.
Over at the farm, workmen were also preparing the harvester for this year’s reaping.
Manager Euston Craigg said workers had been making preparations since the end of the last crop and were practically ready, and were waiting only for the go-ahead. (CT)
