Labour Dept. says stevedore situation under investigation
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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Commissioner of the Labour Department Lenard Spencer Amory
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-COMMISSIONER of the Labour Department Lenard Spencer Amory has informed SKNVibes that the claims for severance pay by yesterday’s (Dec. 10) protesting stevedores have been under investigation by his department for some time.
A small number of stevedores held a brief protest outside of Government Headquarters yesterday morning to demonstrate their dissatisfaction over not receiving severance pay packages that they claim have been owed to them for the past since May.
Amory however, said that the matter is complicated because of the types of compensation claims the stevedores are making.
“What we have are thirty-four workers who were working for a number of different shipping companies such as S. L. Horsford, TDC and Delisle Walwyn & Co. Ltd. There was a problem when the stevedores unionised and discussions with the Shipping Association essentially broke down.
“Later when those companies decided to conglomerate as Port Services Ltd. the workers were offered jobs with the new company and compensation packages for their previous years of service.” ~~Adz:Right~~
The Labour Commissioner pointed out that a majority of the stevedores took either full-time or part-time positions with the newly formed Port Services Ltd. and are still working at the Port today.
“This is why the Labour Department has to continue verifying these claims and working with Social Security to see who is owed. It is not as easy because some of these workers had been with multiple companies before Port Services Ltd. and have filed multiple claims. That all has to be sorted out,” Amory said.
Despite many of the stevedores retaining jobs at the Port, they said that they were “serious about [their] claims” and would not rest until their compensation packages were paid.
“Since the end of May the workers have been owed this money. We were told that within three months our severance money would be paid to us, and now we are over one hundred days past that deadline and still no word of when we should expect it,” Chinassio Huggins, one of the protesting workers, told SKNVibes yesterday.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister with responsibility for Labour, Hon. Sam Condor, promised to meet with the workers this Monday (Dec. 15) to discuss their concerns and “get to the bottom” of the conflict.
