BMC, ADC merger leads to lay-offs
Date: Thu 09-Sep-1993
Paper Page: 1
Publication: Daily Nation
DESPITE union assurances, an undisclosed number of staff from the former
Barbados Marketing Corporation (BMC) have been severed.
Reports yesterday confirmed that some employees had received letters informing
them that their services were no longer required, following last Thursday's
merger of the BMC and the Agricultural Development Corporation into the Barbados
Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC).
Officials of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), which represents the
severed workers, held discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture on their
future, but reportedly were not told last week that there would be layoffs.
Some workers had been informed by letter that those transferred to the BADMC
would enjoy existing basic terms and conditions of employment and their services
would continue unbrokem.
The letter from the then acting BMC general manager, Geoffrey Griffith, added
that each member of staff would individually receive a letter on the conditions
at a later date.
Newly-appointed chief executive officer of BADMC, Dr. Atlee Brathwaite, noting
that the merger would be subject to constant review, confirmed that some
employees had been sent letters, but was unable say how many.
"We had to look carefully at some of the posts which were similar in nature
to avoid duplication," he said.
Earlier this week, Minister of Agriculture David Bowen met with Dr. Brathwaite,
BADMC chairman Dr. Erskine Simmons, and other senior officials to discuss some
of the problems associated with the merger.
These, Dr. Brathwaite said, included physical accommodation, to get an idea of
what additional space was required to ensure that employees were working in a
comfortable environment.