The 60 employees of the Observer Media Group left work today without severance payment.
The Chief Operating Office Darren Derrick told the staff that this is because the Antigua Public Utilities Authority filed an injunction against Observer.
He did not indicate why the injunction was filed.
Derrick told the staff that as a result of this the company cannot write checks because its assets have been frozen.
The company has no access to its bank accounts.
He could not tell the staff when they will be paid.
Many of the staff left for the day as the company ceases operations today.
Observer owes APUA over a million dollars and severance payments to staff of a similar value.
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This alp government is really the devil a sick devil …a local company with workers and their families they fighting but they can give concessions to outside companies….gaston you and your ministers and family will have to face god
Ummm what really does the ALP govt have to do with them not being able to pay their staff??? Govt is not responsible for observer staff , observer is responsible for their own staff !!! Geeeeez🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Even if observer had a million dollars. That wouldn’t save them. Observer real issues was family made worst with cash issues.
Stop blame govt for everything. How long do u think it takes to rack up more than a million dollars in electricty bills. Say after me. Since UPP was in power. That’s before ALP. No politics here bro.
OH…. so we REALLY gonna pretend that the government really didn’t put a foot on the throat of a fallen opponent? OK carry on while I sip my tea!! It’s either we just pretend to not see or we are REALLY BLIND. Poor ar you
You need to get yourself some glasses. Do not start a war then cry foul when you become over confident and left your rear flank exposed.
Don’t see the correlation? Then blindness is a symptom of red Kool aid! Yida does nothing and gets millions of concessions, so does Paradise project. Now these are foreign owned who rape and scrape the economy of Antigua. How many hotels owe APUA and nothing since some govt. related persons have vested interest in them? Don’t get me wrong, if you use you must pay. However, what is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander! As it will unfold, this is just another plot to stifle democracy and breathe breath into dictatorship! Silence the Free press!
Yes indeed wicked set a people. APUA should never get a dime. This whole pappy show will cost them dearly especially in lost good will . They never wanted to settle the bill because they couldn’t prove the amount owed. Who owns APUA? Government, AKA Gaston Brown. Well you can draw you own conclusions but no severance today is thanks to him.
@Sweetiepie I would love to see you go and run up a bill for 1 million dollar and then say you not paying a dime. Face the factz OMG was getting a away with murder and now them time up y’all politcally blind folks defending them and their nonsense.
Damn! Are things really that bad with Observer? Even on its last day of operations, it cannot look after the people that carried it on their shoulders? R.I.P Winston Derrick.
Did you hear that APUA filed an injunction against them and froze their accounts. Maybe Gaston is looking after the employees and will be the severance to be paid. Just vindictiveness.
Antiguans are some of the most badminded set of people they will sink their own …..look how Gaston fighting his own people but open his arms to outside business…..it pains me to say am antigua
I wonder how much ZDK owe APUA? The revelation would be very interesting indeed.
Cool Ruler under UPP, APUA got a judgement against ZDK? Boss, fact is during that time it was ZDK who garnered a judgement against APUA for its heavy handed tactics propelled by its then vindictive minister. Interestingly it is now APUA under this administration which has a judgement against OMG. Yes this government went the legal route while under UPP, you had a minister go with the police to ensure that ZDK’s generator was turned off. Tellingly back then you had no problem defending such an illegal act.
Zdk made the smart move to invest in its own building. Observer acted like a peacock in the Stanford building. They were too busy undermining the country while their own internal affairs were crumbling. Darren Derrick will NOT walk away with clean hands. He is almost single handedly responsible for the demise of his family’s business.
Maybe they can work out something with Crusader Radio.
Zdk did what ..???????? U know who was paying the staff at zdk for years and was paying Bryant house school teachers for years member it was a private school go do your research…….zdk and observer can’t be mentioned in the same sentences
So happy this loco ‘media’ company known as the Observer is shutting down. Just what were they observing anyways? Their news was lousy (and biased) and their website was awful.
Their motto was ‘let there be light’ but I’d say ‘let there be the free market to put you out of business because your media products sucked’.
I wonder if Paul and Nikki will discuss this on VOP? Perhaps they can play a few clips of Daren Derrick and allow Fort Knox, Man on the Bushes, Mr Knight, Mr Small, Sir Ryan, and St Clair Heights to have a discussion then call Mr Pompey for his case studies and the law.
Do not allow Butchie in the discussion because he will only remind them “A DE SYSTEM” and wish them well.
Serpy you were right “LAST ELECTION WAS YOUR LAST ON OMG”
And Gaston say he cares about poor people. I am sure is he gave direct instructions to APUA to file injunction. What a man……don’t want to hear opposing views….dictator
Can’t wait for Serpent and Dave to get going. A&B beats hell a mile.
I wonder when Carl Joseph and Associates going to get their severance pay from since 2009
Anyone who think the gov has nothing to do with this is living under a rock.. You may not like OMG I will wait for the comments when it happens to someone you know or a business you like.
I think the Gaston Brown administration was extremely lenient (if not reckless) in allowing OMG to accumulate such a humongous debt. ZDK owed only a fraction of what OMG owes, and the heavy hammer was administered with brute force, with Wilmouth Daniel leading the charge. Let us remember not to forget.
So pardon my ignorance here BUT yall REALLY REALLY think OMG is the only company in the 268 with a bill of such? Well I’m taking the government YES I SAID the government to task since the country bruk to go and find ALL the fancy hotelier friends and big business associates to get what’s owed to APUA. Don’t just attack the ones you don’t like. Challenge me on this I’m here for it BUT I stand by my theory that the government’s hand is ALL up and through this one, just find Pointe FM last Saturday or the one before and watch the clips of his show THEN make your argument that their hands clean. ALL MY LIFE ME HEAR ANTIGUA BADMINDED AH NOW ME SEE UM. FOH
If it was just about the debt owed to APUA they could have taken these steps long time ago. But its about securing that the debt gets paid. because the Company decided to fold up without discussing with its creditors how they will repay the debt. And that is a very slick way to do business. Means you are doing business with ill will. Bad mindedness. Letting your creditors hold an empty bag in the end. Others owe APUA millions as well, but they are still in business. When Jolly Beach could not pay APUA they agreed to give the government equity which gave the government leverage to give the company to another management firm to run. And we now know and see the result of this agreement. Observer management and director thinks they can just close shop and let everyone in the cold. While the shareholders did not lose a dime of their personal monies. I believe an in-depth audit is needed in order to determine if the board gutted out the company before it come to this revelation. This will show if this plan was put into motion years ago.
Wow blame the govt and say apua wicked no surprise there. Why yall nah say omg bite off more that what they can chew when the moved into that expensive ass building.
CARIB TIMES CLOSE WITH THE STAFF LEFT IN THE COLD BIT U DID NOT SEE GASTON COMING OUT AND SAYING WHAT THEY OWE FOR MEDICAL BENEFIT ,SOCIAL SECURITY ETC….GASTON AND HIS PARTY IS THAM VINDICTIVE NEVER THINK PEOPLE COULD ACTUALLY BEHAVE LIKE THIS ……..
Gaston said he would use the full powers of the state to bankrupt his detractors so better tow the party line and kiss up to the little tyrant while he continues to run A&B into the ground.
They had a good run, but it’s over now. Time for something new.
This is scary to many of those bright young minds who want to start a business.
I heard that there would be a landswap that might help. Is there not a bankruptcy act or does that not apply here?
May we all have a Christmas miracle…..just believe.
P.S. when do the lands at mt.mcniche go on sale? I want a small piece to buy. Maybe the land can be sold to 1000 antiguans instead of swapped, cause you know :- there may br subsequent insider trading 😉
I would like to say thank you to all staff and presenters at observer radio. I would like an email address for Jo Jo. Can anyone send it to me. Thanks.
Is that where the transmitter is?
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