ABS workers are on strike after being told that they will not be paid for the period in which they protested last year.
The workers say they received news of this by way of a letter from the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information.
When the ABS workers ended their
The agreement was made with the union, ABS management, and the Labour Department which intervened to end the industrial action.
They remain off the job.
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They can’t expect to get paid for ten (10) whole days of protesting. They should be fired if they continue to stay off the job.
Seriously so we must work in outfit conditions wow kudos to u
I agree
So true you really have to think about if you were in other people shoes indeed, you have to say sometimes what if it was me, so I totally agree on this one.
So you’re saying that its ok for them to have persons working in unsafe unhealthy conditions, refuse to pay persons for their overtime, holiday pay and just do the workers as they please all because they arent according to the management in the good book or a parr of their special team? Its a shame everyone chatting and dont know the facts
The last strike was not about the conditions. They strike because of un-paid overtime and they want the GM to go.
The GM IS part of working conditions. It is not just about physical/building conditions.
It is 2019, treating people like shit and creating an unhealthy work environment nar go again.
How can ANYONE be against improved conditions for all, including the ones who are working but silently supporting and too cowardly to stand up.
Anyway, Rosa Parks didn’t wait for anybody to sit down with her or sit down for two seconds alone. Those who feel it must know it. Keep up the fight, workers!
In live you do not chose in which family you are born or who your father and mother will be. But you have to live with them. And if possible love them. That is family. But when it comes to work you chose who you want to work with. And if you do not like the people around you, or your boss all you have to do if QUIT the job and find another one
Really? So they must work in these conditions? Would you if the shoe were on your feet?
And just what are “those conditions”???
You are sooo retarded… Get the facts and come run your mouth…
Perhaps you could drop the word “retarded”, which is no longer socially acceptable anywhere. You should say “challenged” instead! This is the 21st century.
You are so right. I always ask who running the asylum. The inmates?
These people want to strike and stay home and still get paid. So what about those that didn’t strike. Should they get double pay for keeping the station open?
When you are on that side of the fence…. then you can make sensible comments….Please put yourself in other people situations.
How long precisely should one protest untenable conditions and environment?? Especially if management has ignored all other avenues including direct pressing recommendations from the labour commissioner?
Give me an aspirin.
So employees expect to “not work” and get paid for those days? Tell them try that in the private sector.
The question is why are they Protesting n what’s the issue n how can u sign an agreement then 2 months after u want take out money
Why they are protesting is a different issue. If you owned a business and your employees protested for 10 days i.e. no contribution to the productivity of YOUR business, would you pay them for not doing their job??
comparing private sector with government is like comparing apples with oranges.
No it’s not. Government employees are known to have a laid-black, sloppy attitude towards their jobs and the public. We need to RAISE THE STANDARD in the public sector and get rid of the “don’t care” attitude that is so prevalent in government departments. Don’t even get me started about the low-life “customer service” they mete out to the public. The shop steward even admitted that some of those same protesting workers were NOT signing in. It was only after the meeting that they started to sign in when they arrived to work. You cannot “do as you like” and expect to get away with it.
That being said, if the hazardous working conditions persist, then that should have been resolved. But poor working conditions should not translate to having a shitty attitude and mentality “just because” it’s a government entity.
That’s not it, but as far as the public has been told an agreement was signed; if that is true then why were their monies deducted?
Employers expect to NOT provide basic proper working conditions and salaries and still get the employees’ time and energy?
This underhanded and probably illegal action to punish the employees is itself a clear indication of poor management. What can really go so inna 2019?!!?
Nobody should be paid for work they did NOT do.
Some of them would never make it in the private sector. No work. No pay. Protest all you want, but that is on your own time (and money).
They can’t expect to get paid for ten (10) whole days of protesting. They should be fired if they continue to stay off the job. That’s not right.
Are you kidding? They want to be paid for NOT working? Protesting is working? What this world is coming to….
OUR FRIEND BOLDFACE WOULD SAY TO YOU WHEN YOU DON”T KNOW YOU JUST DON”T KNOW
Can they provide proof of this agreement? Suspect they can’t and its my understanding that the PS would have been at the meeting. You then have a worker with a placard calling his manager a Jezebel. Its time for real action to be taken because lines have been crossed
That may depend on if the employee is calling a spade a spade.
It would be actually awful if management was resorting to denying the agreement for what should have in any event been done voluntarily in good faith while matters await a resolution. How low are you willing to place the bar?
It was signed by J Z Bell. Your reasoning is just based on speculation that she is being called a jezibell.
actually SAYS SIGNED by abs workers. Any boss proceed to burn your own house down. Clearly we have learned from our past
IF this guy was calling the manager Zezebell, he should be the first one fired. There are many people with manners who’d be glad to replace him today.
They say I always sound harsh. But i do not mess with my company. The government will one day learn to manage staff properly and not be afraid for loosing votes. They should be fired PERIOD. They want to run the show and that is not right. They are following Ralph and that will cost them. Don;t know why the AT & LU took him on board at all. he is a UPP man and has always been.
You are absolutely right Tenman.
I see why the country is like this. When you stand for nothing you fall for anything. You guys have my full support.
I am with you 100 percent. The workers have been wronged, therefore they are taking action; ALOT of all u out there should take a leaf out of their BOOK.
In what way have they been “wronged”???
You’ll really need to know the facts before coming here and chatting foolishness…
Seriously!
CONFUSED
The decision to ‘…deny work-benefits’ has absolutely nothing to do with ‘…disciplinary action’, in which a particular course of action may hinge.
Those that understand ‘…bush-fires,’ know that all it takes is a ‘…bit of gasoline and a sparkle, then there is an inferno.’
While there has always been need to ensure discipline among employees, to interfere with ‘…reasonable expectations of being paid, full benefits,’ clearly appears to be at the heart of the prolonged saga between the ‘ …aggrieved employees and apparent insensitive management.’
Employees do not mind being disciplined, but do not interfere with their pay.’
If workplace disputes ought to be settled amicably, there have to be compromises.
It cannot be ‘…no disciplinary action, but no pay.’ Hay in a barn house could easily be ignited.
Thus, one may not turn a page and on the new page, seek to agitate or cause that which has the potential to exacerbate a situation to be written on the new page.
Bygone shall be bygone.
“Employees do not mind being disciplined, but do not interfere with their pay.’”
Have you never heard of leave without pay. That is what they took. Leave without pay. When you discipline an employee and send them home with pay, it is like giving them extra vacation. In that case they will always want to be disciplined. But when you cut their pay that’s when they feel it. When you take strike actions you should be willing to give up something. Especially when the strike was not initially sanction by the Union. Employees have rights and so do employers. Right to a fair days work for a fair days pay.
Absolutely. A strike must never be taken as a vacation with pay. Never. It seems some people might be there only for a pay cheque but don’t was to do “a fair days work for a fair days pay”. Some of these people may need to be fired. Others are valuable employees.
You are misinformed, about the letter and also about what “leave without pay” is and how it works.
Papa Bird haffi ah turn all now for how they are trying to stifle and trample the workers and their rights. ABS workers seem too soft though really. Couldn’t be me after you touch my money without lawful cause.
Look at it this way: how on Earth could any good management allow this to go on for so long and do absolutely NOTHING not even address and implement the urgent recommendations made.
Lack of good faith entirely by management.
Tell me did the Sugar factory workers get paid when they stroked for one year?
Not sure about way back then but workers rights have evolved.
Did post office workers, Clarevue, Solid Waste etc collect their full cheque? Why they have strong so for ABS workers?
This is what you get when you stand up for your rights. People accepting to much advantage. This is a democratic nation. Protest for your rights.
They should start a petition to remove the Minister for gross incompetence, for allowing these issues to prolong for so long.
Obviously the Minister is the problem not the manager, the manager carries out the MINISTER’S policies.
The staff need to put the responsibility where it belongs the policy. Some how the manager should stop talking and start listening.
What the Minister did???
@CErmle Hope you understand my answer.
THE MINISTER DID NOTHING…
Some Unions have strike fund established for situation as aforementioned. Tax payers should not pay anyone for failing to be productive…
The unions must use their “strike fund” to pay the workers who didn’t work. The taxpayers only are responsible for those who are on the job. They need to weed out some of the deadbeats who are determined to destroy ABS. It’s a good station, and they are improving all the time. Management and those who really do work are to be congratulated. Thank you ABS management and workers who work, and do a good job at it. Those who are just there for a paycheck should be let go.
I work in the private sector and I had participated in several industrial strikes. The longest a strike lasted for was 3 days and everyone who had participated in the strike got paid. Management had agreed to the staffs conditions and had made the provision. ABS staffs please stand up for your rights. Some of these buildings that government staffs work in are deplorable and health safety comes first. I think when government are renting or leasing buildings for operations usage they should allow the landlord to be responsible for the maintenance upkeep. Government is not good at maintaining any structures.
And to you as well the last strike was not about the working condition. It was about the overtime pay and the fact that they want the GM to go. They are out of their place with that demand. As far as I am concern they have poison the working environment. and therefore need to part with the company. Lets calculate their severance and pay them off. That is all.
You have hit the nail on the head. The situation is just as you describe. They have some good people at ABS, both workers and management, but some that need to go. It’s time to do something. ABS is a wonderful station and very professional. There are some great people there, and we are blessed to have them. Others need to be let go.
CONFUSING ISSUES – FROM THE SIDELINE
When lions, leopards, cheetahs and tigers attacked their prey, they often grabbed them at the neck and suffocate them to death.
One may not ‘…confuse the Issue of ‘…disciplinary action’ with ‘…denial of, or cutting of pay.’
This would not only be improper, but also most likely to fuel more protests with other previously overlooked or ignored issues being added.
Those with experience in management know this very well. They are clearly not the same.
If one is formally disciplined, it follows that after a determination of the issue is made as to guilt, ‘…punishment’ is imposed. No rocket scientist is needed for this.
Simply put, one shall not be punished until one is disciplined, put on trial or given an opportunity to be heard, found guilty, at which time punishment or reprimand may follow.
This is ‘ALWAYS’ dependent upon the nature and gravity of the disciplinary offence.
Been there! …Done that!
Quite simply, a strike is a leave without pay.
Exactly.
These crazy workers need to be fired, period.
Yeah, how dare they ask for proper conditions for everybody?
Dem pass Dem place, just say yes Massa straight and tek whatever they get and hush.
#ThisIsAntigua
“….new thing stay off the job in protests, there after protesters want full salary, wah can go so.”
Protest if you wish, it’s your rite, but staying off the job and looking full salary, that type of thinking is beyond me.
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