Walker Promises An End to Late Payments

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Saturday, 23 June 2012 02:30

By Everton Barnes

Antigua St John's - Workers at the Antigua Port Authority, the main gateway for goods entering the country, have been assured that the late payments that have plagued the Authority for the better part of a year may soon be a thing of the past.

The assurance came on Friday when minister responsible for the Port, Trevor Walker, convened a meeting with the staff, management, the board and representatives of the Antigua Trades and Labour Union (ATLU) and the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU).

Walker is reported to have told the gathering that the Authority is currently making arrangements to ensure that the late payments come to an end and that the workers – both weekly and monthly paid – received their wages and salaries on time.

The minister is said to have made a commitment that by July 15, the board will be in a position to state clearly the direction it plans to take the port into the foreseeable future.

ATLU Industrial Relations Officer, Ralph Potter, who attended the meeting, said Walker accepted a recommendation put forward by his union about a year ago, that the board should make use of the vast wealth of knowledge and experience that the staff had acquired over the years.

“There are members of staff at the Port Authority with more than 30 years working at the Deep Water Harbour. They collectively have much more knowledge and information about the operations of the port than do the current management team. We feel that the board would do well to make use of this knowledge as it charts the way forward for the beleaguered statutory body,” he explained.

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Potter said the minister has agreed to invite union members to attend board meetings so that they may get a fuller understanding of the challenges facing the port as well as to provide them with an opportunity to offer advice and or solutions.

The union officials accepted the offer from the minister.

According to Potter the meeting came at the behest of the ATLU which in turn invited the ABWU to send a representative as it too represents different categories of workers at the port.

He said his union saw the meeting as a final opportunity for the minister to clearly address the outstanding issues of late-payment and voluntary separation, if he wants to avoid the union taking what it deemed ‘necessary action’.

He said the AT&LU now awaits the July 15 date when the minister promises that he will lay out in detail the plan of action for the Antigua Port Authority.

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