NO?LAYOFFS – once there is work.
That was the terse response Sir Charles Williams gave the SUNDAY SUN yesterday when asked for an update on a meeting C.O. Williams Construction had with the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW) in light of a recent announcement that the company intended to lay off workers from its 600-strong payroll because of a business downturn.
Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley disclosed last Friday he had instructed ministry representatives to meet the Williams company against the background of a memo to workers earlier this month saying that the recently proclaimed Employment Rights Act required companies to give employees six weeks’ notice before they were laid off.
“The only comment that I am going to give you is that we are not laying off anybody, providing we have work – private, Government or whatever. What we want is work,” said Sir Charles.
Lashley had also said Government was embarking on a $35 million road repair project already approved by the Ministry of Finance and available for expressions of interest from private contractors.
