Hatchery promises to protect jobs

A local hatchery says it is prepared to take a loss on its operations this year in order to keep all its employees on the payroll, despite the difficult economic conditions on the island.

The position was outlined by Barry Gale, manager of Gales Hatcheries in St Philip, the island’s main producer of chicken and turkey hatchlings.

He told listeners to the radio call-in programme Down to Brasstacks that the company had not laid off any of its 60 workers and had no plans to do so even as disruptions in supplies and orders occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gale disclosed that a fresh chicken shortage had developed when demand from growers fell dramatically as the island’s hotel sector shut down and the fast food restaurants ceased operations for almost two months as part of the national effort to stem the spread of COVID-19.

However, he said some two months after reopening, there were still disruptions because some growers were unsure how many birds the market would require.

Gale said the company’s operations had to be managed in a way to protect the livelihoods of the workers who depended on the company for their income. According to him, the company had built enough reserves that it could sustain a loss on its operations this year and still keep all its workers.

Gale’s comments came in the face of fierce criticism from some callers to the programme, about the planned layoff of front-line workers in the food retail sector.

One caller described planned job cuts in the sector as disgusting, particularly when these workers gave their all during the COVID-19 lockdown and put their health at risk to ensure Barbadians were serviced during a very difficult period.

The caller suggested that food retail operators should find more creative ways to ensure staffers remained employed, rather than placing them on the breadline when re-employment opportunities on the island were so dismal.

Gale said his company was appreciative of the sacrifices that employees had made.

“We were faced with a severe reduction in volume through the whole COVID period – a 50 per cent reduction. Even in the face of the 50 per cent reduction in volume, I still maintained for my staff to be comfortable and to understand that I was supporting them through the crisis, just as much as they were supporting me, because I was asking people to come to work when we didn’t know whether it was going to be a full-blown pandemic in Barbados as well,” the hatchery operator said. “If I am going to rely on my staff to do well for me, then I have to do well for them.”

Gale noted that his company was not a monopoly operation as there were two other hatcheries on the island, and another that had ceased operating since the lockdown period.
(IMC1)