Jada workers walk out, head for talks

Management from the Jada Group and the Barbados Workers Union are set to meet on Monday to address concerns raised by the company’s construction workers following a walkout this morning.

The workers were protesting against management’s decision to change their conditions of work, the employees said.

They charged that they are being forced to work on Saturdays without additional pay.

The protest halted work at several job sites across the island including the Nightengale Children’s Home in Black Rock, St Michael, as well as project sites at Ellerton, St George and the Esso Petrol Station at the Grantley Adams International Airport.

A spokesman for the group of workers at the Nightengale Home, Lambert Edmund, speaking on local radio said that Saturdays are usually their day off.

Edmund said: “These guys are asked to work on Saturdays and they want to make it mandatory, while Friday they are off.

“It was never so and I want to know if there are any companies that can come out and say that is how it is supposed to be.”

The decision now means that instead of being paid “time and a half” overtime on Saturdays, they would now receive regular pay, he said.

By day’s end, the striking workers had returned to their jobs pending the outcome of Monday’s meeting.

When contacted, general secretary of the BWU Toni Moore would only offer this brief comment to Barbados TODAY: “The parties will be addressing the issues when we meet on Monday.” randybennett@barbadostoday.bb