STAFF of the Probation Department staged industrial action yesterday for the second time in a week, the first being a sick-out on May 24.
About 15 staff members protested outside the department’s headquarters in Roebuck Street, The City, from around noon until 2 p.m.
The workers said they were protesting unfair and biased appraisals and interviews, which had resulted in two members of staff facing imminent termination while junior members of staff are being promoted. In addition, they said people were being hired into senior positions from outside the department.
They also said that someone else, at one time an intern, was being brought in as a senior probation officer while two junior staff members would now also be senior probation officers.
Because of this, those acting as probation officers would revert to their substantive positions of community officers, thereby forcing out those currently acting as community officers.
Staff said they had not had an appraisal in 11 years.
They also chastised Minister of Home Affairs Adriel Brathwaite for seemingly dismissing their concerns in a meeting last week. They said he told them to “dust yourselves off and carry on” and that he would not be meeting with anyone on the matter.
Neither the chief probation officer nor the deputy chief probation officer would comment on the situation. An effort to contact Brathwaite also proved futile as the DAILY NATION was told he was not in the island.
National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) general secretary Dennis Clarke was reported to have said that the managerial decisions were wreaking emotional havoc on the workers. The DAILY NATION understands that staff of the department and the NUPW will meet today concerning their issues. (CA)
