BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - ON the heels of the recent closure of Clear Harbor where some 131 persons were made jobless, 15 more individuals have joined the long unemployment line.
Information reaching SKNVibes states that 15 persons from the University of Medicine and Health Sciences/University of Nursing were recently laid off and another five full-time workers were made part-time with their salaries cut in half.
It is alleged that while persons were laid off due to cost-cutting, some individuals are being considered for jobs and some for positions that were previously made redundant.
Speaking with a disgruntled worker, he claimed that during a staff meeting on Friday (Mar. 11), employees were told that business was not doing well and management would be cutting cost. Told that a number of persons would be laid off, but at the time they did not know who would have been affected.
He also claimed that the manner in which those employees were laid off was unsatisfactory because, even though they were forewarned, the persons affected were not given adequate notice and that the higher income earners were unaffected.
The disgruntled employee also expressed his displeasure in the areas where the Directors were cutting cost, stating that there were many other areas where they could have downsized instead of laying off that amount of workers.
One former employee alleged that some of the workers were regularly mistreated. She said that their supervisor had often picked on them and when they would ask the reason for such treatment, the supervisor would say, “It is my duty to pick on you.”
She went on to say that the supervisor would sometimes call them stupid or “mumu”, and would also change their work schedule without prior notice and tell them that they have no choice but to work with what they were given.
It is alleged that a pregnant employee, who is not the holder of a work permit, was supposed to be among the 15 persons laid off, but a concerned supervisor ensured that her co-worker be sent home instead.
SKNVibes contacted the Director of Human Resources for the University of Nursing who confirmed that persons were indeed laid off, but accentuated that those employees were given ample notice and everything was done in accordance with the Labour Department laws.
The University of Nursing has been in operation in St. Kitts since 2005 while the University of Medicine and Health Sciences came onboard in 2008.
