“PAY US our due; we do not want any more promises!”
That was the cry at the Arawak Cement Company’s plant in St Lucy yesterday as over 55 general workers downed tools and vowed not to resume work until they were given retroactive pay, apparently running back as far as 2002, with individual quotes varying from over $500 to $5 000.
Contending that they had been given promises of payment since August 2010, some of the disgruntled workers indicated that they voted to stop work after a meeting was held with management at 7 a.m. yesterday morning, with the 20-minute meeting ending with management allegedly stating that financial challenges had delayed the payment.
A meeting was then held between the workers and union delegates and a vote was taken in favour of stopping work while the delegates went off to meet with management. Following that meeting, the workers assembled under a large tree close to the company’s gate to be briefed.
Under tree
When that meeting ended there was nothing to suggest that the workers would be returning to work soon, as they continued to relax under the tree.
A call to management via a security officer at the gate was met with the media being denied both permission to enter and a chance to quiz management.
Some of the workers’ delegates were equally hesitant about speaking to the media, with some workers being upbraided for speaking to “those people”.
Earlier this year, a large group of workers from Arawak were laid off for 90 days, with some claiming that they were promised retroactive money by December 31.
According to these workers, they had reached the end of their work when they went to the meeting on Monday, only to be given what they considered to be more promises.
It was suggested that Barbados Workers’ Union officials would have met with the workers later in the day. (KB)