The United Progressive Party today condemned Prime Minister Gaston Browne for failing to take the necessary steps to upgrade Antigua and Barbuda’s business process outsourcing sector and protect the livelihood of hundreds of households.
According to the UPP, His recent comments on Pointe FM claiming that “call center jobs cannot be the reality,” prove his failure to understand the full potential of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
The party said in a release that there are currently many higher paying and more secure jobs available within the 110 US billion dollar global BPO industry. These include back office medical recordkeeping, accounting, legal work and a plethora of information technology jobs. Mature BPO countries like India and the Philippines have already aggressively diversified their local industries in that direction, creating a viable template for countries like Antigua and Barbuda to follow.
The UPP views the existing call centers as an important step in the creation of higher value employment, higher productivity and future local investment in an upgraded BPO sector.
It said recognizing the vision and immense opportunities, the UPP administration tasked the Antigua & Barbuda Investment Authority (ABIA) with developing a pathway to diversify and upgrade the local BPO industry to provide higher paying, more resilient jobs. Naturally, these more resilient careers also have higher training requirements. Under the UPP, strategic planning was underway to attract higher value, less cost-sensitive outsourcing investors. This also included the upgrading of the skills of current industry workers.
After coming to power, however, the ABLP totally abandoned these strategic plans when it gutted the ABIA for spurious political reasons,” the UPP release said.
“It is regrettable that PM Browne has a bailout desperation mindset, as opposed to long term viable development strategies. His recent disparaging comments are the clearest indication yet, that he is unwilling to invest in the training and development required to preserve and grow the outsourcing sector. Gaston Browne has no plan to protect the employment of hundreds of young Antiguans and Barbudans. He continues on a path of desperation with his failed ‘government by headlines’ strategy that continues to destroy the economy of our country,” says UPP Political Leader, Harold Lovell.
The UPP is calling for the immediate restoration of the ABIA to its pre-2014 fully functional state. Re-activating the strategic planning and facilitation, abandoned since the start of the current ABLP administration, would be a practical first step towards upgrading and future-proofing the outsourcing sector. ABIA participation will also serve to better preserve remaining jobs, by responding to the needs of local investors in a more strategic and timely manner.
The party stated that PM Browne’s hopeless stance on this industry sends a “closed for business” message to both current local operators and future potential investors. The UPP is highly concerned about the viability of the remaining major employers in the outsourcing sector under the ABLP administration.
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Oh please Harold stop it. You are just making these pronouncements because you find yourself on the opposite side!!! Shame Shame Shame on you!
Remember they had the very same industry of medical prescription already. And what had become of that under their tenure?.
Say them man who was in chart she the brewery was crying out and allow them to relocate to St. Vincent. #kettlecallingthepotblack
UPP nah ready yet. The party needs to CONDEMN HAROLD LOVELL. He as leader is a huge part of the reason the UPP lost terribly.
You kno this is so freaking annoying. You people talking like NCO was such a fantastic place to work. It was a damn slave house. They did not give to shits about the employees. As a former work I know. You take a whole lot of shit from stupid people who call and then those heartless managers who ask no questions but proceed to yell at you. If u get sick and go on sick leave upon your return your last pay check waiting there for you. A few years ago a young lady who was employed by this company was hit by a car while waiting for a bus on the company compound and after she back from sick leave there was a dissmissal letter waiting for her. The pm was wrong about that ” customer service” comment but NCO was a morden day slave house.
I usually don’t comment on what ppl say since it’s pointless but clearly Tupz sounds like one of those workers who talk, talk but doesn’t care about truth or facts. How does an “employee gets hit by the bus on the company compound” when ppl wait for the bus on the road by the gate? I dont work there I know this cause I have seen it many times, ppl out there waiting for the bus. I have enough friends in there to hear all the talks, pro and con… and at the end of the day, a job is a job and too many ppl in this place wants to get paid but don’t care much to work. Customers are customers wherever in the world. Especially Americans with their rude attitudes of wanting it now and don’t give a crap about anything else. I mean seriously, we all buy online and when our packages are not delivered as expected when call I am certain that we don’t give a crap about the CS on the phone, especially when the answer we are getting is not what we wanna hear.
So all the comments about taking shit from customers, well that was the job you got paid and trained to do. I am sure it was no surprise. And for those of us who love to play the “slave house” card, remember our ppl before us who were slaves, didn’t have a choice. You do so what are you slave again?
Bulls**t your ass have not worked there so stfu. Im saying the young lady just finished work when she was stucked by a car and placed on sick leave a a result after she came back out she was instanlty fired from the company. While working there you no only take shit from the customers but also the managers for a kiss me ass pay. Who knows it feels it. Them too damn wicked up there.
Tupz u right especially dem dutty manager up dey. they lub tun people way for any little thing. Karma is a bitch
Thanks for the foresight Mr Lovell. Many of those persons have no idea how huge the business closures are. NCO provided a lot of jobs for hundreds of households in the nation. Also it supports a number of other business. There will definitely be a domino effect to the economy. While it was not the best paying company, it provides a livelihood for many and it will be missed. The PM should be reminded that many of these 400 employees supported you.
Also, many of these people who are eager to comment dont have all the facts and shouldn’t be taken seriously. Many times, just sour grapes
‘Antigua is slipping thru we hands’. A word to the wise is sufficient. Let the IA do their jobs, there has never been a time in A & B when so many businesses are closing their doors; temporarily or permanently. Where is all the growth? Free fetes will not fix this! Still waiting for the economic power house because I am not a farmer
How does Gaston Browne plan to replace these jobs? After 4 years of talk and ground fakings, he has failed to deliver any new investments. No addition. All subtraction under Gaston Browne. Is so you build powerhouse or poor house? This is a big joke!!!
Gaston is still using the VC Bird playbook to run Antigua. He has and had no vision or development plans for running the country.
All he saw was an opportunity to get rich and he made up some lying slogan about 500 home 500 days and economic powerhouse
Now that businesses are closing left right and center he has no answers but to have the workers go back to cutting cane or bush or whatever
he did in all honesty tell us that dem flop dem flop dem flop dem flop but those NCO workers could not have known it was their jobs that would flop 3 months down the line when they were in their red shouting labaa are de way
Now they have to go cut grass
Harold Lovely should be the last person to talk about this. Or did he forget his time in power when businesses were crying out and he did not but cry with them talking about economic crisis. All u upp bloggers mussa forget when Antigua Brewery was complaining about the operational cost doing business here and Harlod Lovell who was finance minster at the time sat back and allowed them to relocate to another island. Now our suppose ‘local’ beer I being produce in another island. Smh talk about kettle calling the pot black.
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