CEMACO sold!!
Scores of employees now job seekers…

By Stanford Conway
Editor-in-Chief-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SCORES of people are now jobless and many of them shed tears when they received letters yesterday notifying them that the Government-owned Central Marketing Corporation [CEMACO] has changed ownership.

Information reaching SKNVibes states that CEMACO was sold to Frank B Armstrong Limited and employees of the new owners, along with the redundant workers of the public entity, are today engaged in a stock-taking exercise before the official handing over of the building and its contents.

Speaking with one of the redundant employees, SKNVibes was told that the sale of the public entity was long in the making and staff members were given the opportunity to bid for it, but the time was inadequate to make a definite decision.

“Sometime in February this year we had a meeting with Minister Liburd and Halva Hendrickson. They told us that CEMACO was up for sale and we should make up our mind to buy the building because the Minister had to go to Cabinet the next morning and give a report on the matter.

“We voted and the majority of the staff did not want to buy it at that time because we did not have sufficient time to seek advice on the matter. So we lost the opportunity to buy the building, and it was all because the authorities did not see it fit to notify us at an earlier date,” the employee said.    ~~Adz:Right~~

He however pointed out that a subsequent meeting was held some months after and they were told that the entity would be sold but Hendrickson was uncertain of the date.

“We were all wondering when that would have been, but Hendrickson informed us that July 31, 2008 was the tentative date,” he added.

The employee said the staff was invited to another meeting to discuss their benefits, but this time it was hosted by the Labour Department. He explained that representatives of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Union were also invited but they had received their letter of invitation 20 minutes before the meeting started. 
 
“The meeting was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and the Labour Commissioner, Mr. Armory, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Keith Phillip, started it on time in the absence of the representatives from the Labour Union. However, the Labour Union’s representatives did arrive and our benefits and other plans were outlined to us.”

The employee said they were also advised at the meeting that the tentative date of sale was July 13, 2008 and they should continue working until they would have received a letter on the matter.

“Yesterday afternoon after 2 o’clock, we all got letters saying our service will be terminated with effect from today, Thursday, July 31, 2008. The letters came from the Board of Directors with Keith Phillip’s name but they were all unsigned.

“Right now we are engaged in stocktaking; it is our last working day and hopefully we should be getting our pay in lieu of notice and holiday pay shortly. We would have to wait for about four weeks or more to get our severance pay and many people have become very emotional over the issue, because some of them have been working here for more than 33 years and do not know what the future holds for them,” he said.

He also informed that from the 50-odd redundant employees, 10 of them were offered positions under the employ of the new management and owners.

The employee is however confident that the Government would provide alternatives for the unemployed workers. He noted that they were given forms by the Board of Directors to indicate what training they need in order to be employed in their field of choice.

On Tuesday, April 22, 2008, Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas disclosed that CEMACO would be sold to Frank B Armstrong Limited.

He made the disclosure while in discussion with media practitioners during his monthly press conference.

Dr. Douglas told the media that the decision to sell CEMACO originated from the government’s programme for stabilisation of the country’s economy. He explained that in the past, his government had indicated some public assets would be sold and some government services would become more commercialised.

“CEMACO was one of those institutions that came up for discussions for sale. The government, over the last few weeks, has been engaged in the final sale of CEMACO. As to whether the actual sale has taken place, I am not in a position to say at this time. But I know that the Cabinet has given the full approval for the sale of CEMACO,” Dr. Douglas said.

The PM further explained that only one party had shown interest in purchasing the entity, and that is “the company known as F.B Armstrong; and I believe that the Cabinet has given its okay for that to be sold”.

With regards to the workers welfare, Dr. Douglas said the same procedure would be conducted as in any place of business that has become defunct. “I believe that they would be properly compensated under the existing laws that are being pursued through the Labour Department…and I believe their interest will be well looked after and nobody there should be disadvantaged,” he said.

He added that if the new owners were to continue operating the type of supermarket that CEMACO had provided, the workers may be available for re-employment as any other person would have the opportunity to apply. “In fact,” he added, “it would be good if they were given first preference…I am not certain as to what the exact details were when they were exiting.”