PSV workers have been urged to pay their National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contributions so they can receive jobless benefits as the Covid-19 emergency is expected to leave many unemployed.
The advice came from the two largest bodies which represent public service vehicle (PSV) operators; the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) and the Association of Public Transport Operators (APTO), in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barbados has been under curfew since March 28 and it was due to end tomorrow. However, on Saturday night Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that the current 24-hour curfew would be extended until midnight May 3.
During the current curfew, non-essential workers are only permitted to leave their homes to go to the doctor, the supermarket or the bank.
While PSV workers have been deemed as essential workers and will be allowed to continue working, they are expecting to see very few commuters with the majority of the island on lockdown.
Speaking to Barbados TODAY, APTO chairman Kenneth Best said the dire situation facing not only PSV workers but the entire country should be a “wake up call” for everyone in the industry.
He explained that with very few PSVs expected to be operating, a large number of workers would be without income for an extended period.
But Best pointed out that if those PSV workers had been making contributions to the NIS, they would be able to receive unemployment insurance owing to the downturn in business.
He said both PSV workers and owners would suffer tremendous losses during the 24-hour shutdown which they were unlikely to recover.
Best said: “I believe this is a wake-up call for employees to make contributions for themselves or to ensure that they allow the employers to do the deductions from their salaries, so that in times like these they would not be out in the cold.
“It has greater effects not only for this COVID-19, but it has an effect for these persons when they reach pensionable age to be able to go to the NIS and having made the necessary contributions, to be entitled to a pension.”
He contended that there were “too many sad stories” of persons who had worked for many years in the PSV sector and “handled a considerable amount of money” having to rely on the Welfare Department for assistance.
Best said he had raised the issue on several occasions with his members.
His sentiments were echoed by AOPT public relations officer Mark Haynes.
Haynes told Barbados TODAY the suggestion was feasible and ought to be considered by all PSV workers.
He said: “It makes a lot of sense because if they pay into the NIS fund, when something like this happens it means they will be able to get something during this kind of period to assist them in the meantime.
“I think it is something that should be seriously looked at and something that the workers in the industry should perhaps look at doing because ultimately it benefits them in the long run and in the event of such an eventuality they would be able to draw down on the funds like any other worker.”
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb
