CEO: Up to trustee to pay out liabilities

Concern is increasing among former workers of bankrupt construction firm, Black Bess Quarry Limited, who claim that over two months after being sent home, they have not received vacation monies, payment in lieu of notice or bonus payments owed to them.

But the company’s Chief Executive Officer Wayne Manning is adamant that all liability now rests with the trustee appointed to liquidate the company’s assets and pay its debts. He also firmly refuted suggestions from some ex-workers that the previous owners are now offering the same services as the company’s predecessor under a new name.

A former employee this week told Barbados TODAY that workers were growing uneasy about the seemingly dormant situation and some who desperately need employment have been settling for less favourable contracts with the company’s previous owners.

“Nobody is telling us anything. The last meeting with management was last month when Manning said he would send out a letter stating how much he owed and when he could pay but we haven’t seen him,” the axed employee revealed while adding that his empty-handed colleagues were now looking to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) for their severance.

Manning, however, after discussions with the Supervisor of Insolvency, is holding out hope that the workers’ compensation will be the first priority when a trustee is installed next week.

“I don’t want to give a specific time because it is a process, but [workers] will be considered preferential creditors and once he is installed and the process continues as it is then they will get sorted out before any other creditors get paid,” Manning told Barbados TODAY.

On January 7th, 2020 staff received a memo informing them of the company’s decision to file for bankruptcy based on its failure to turn a profit for many years.

According to sources close to the situation, Black Bess Construction Ltd and RM Investment Limited, both members of the Black Bess Group of Companies are now performing many of the same services offered under the now-bankrupt company. This aroused suspicions that a new company had been set up.

Barbados TODAY understands that under new contracts, workers no longer get half a day’s pay if heavy rainfall prevents them from performing their duties. In such cases, they are only paid for two hours of work.

Workers also report that at any time, they may be instructed to stop working and would only be paid until that time. In the past, once they worked past 1:30 p.m. they would be given an entire day’s pay.

Manning, however, argued that the two smaller companies had been around for decades, but have incorporated some workers from the much larger bankrupt company.

He explained that one of the companies caters to the excavation of small yards and foundations, while the other offers equipment rentals. Manning added that the now-defunct company dealt with major projects like road construction as well as large demolition and excavation contracts.

Breaking his silence on the rationale for filing for bankruptcy, Manning said the decision was taken after ten years of “extreme hardship” in which Black Bess Quarry Limited attempted to keep all of its employees amid a declining business environment.

“Black Bess [Quarry Limited] has been going for 28 years, so we have been doing lots of work all around. But the type of work we have been getting for the last ten years hasn’t been what would have existed before and we have been carrying employees all this time and it just reached a point where we couldn’t do it anymore. It’s not like we wanted to close, we simply didn’t have a choice,” said Manning.

The businessman however sees light at the end of the tunnel as construction projects slowly increase and pledged to continue “fighting up” with his businesses despite the ongoing uncertainty.

“I do what I do and it’s all that I know and all that I’ve been doing for 35 years. So I’ve got to try and push on,” he added.

Efforts to reach Barbados Workers’ Union Deputy General Secretary Dwaine Paul, who is lobbying on behalf of workers were unsuccessful.

kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb