Pension coming for former Cave employees

Former Caves of Barbados workers, who claim they have been waiting for their pension money for close to a year, are being assured that authorities have not abandoned them.

Speaking on behalf of a group of 16, one employee said on Wednesday that while the transition of the management of the Harrison’s Cave operations to Chukka Caribbean Adventures of Jamaica had been taken care of, the affected staff members were left out in the cold.

“Some of the workers at Caves of Barbados used to work at the NCC [National Conservation Commission]. We were transferred to a private company called Caves of Barbados. After that was done, some of us were appointed in the positions that we were in at NCC. After transferring us to this private company, they had to take us from under the Consolidated Fund for pension and created a pension plan between Sagicor and Caves of Barbados,” said the former worker who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of being victimized.

“We got no kind of correspondence in relation to the pension plan. All we heard, there is one and we supposed to get pension from Sagicor. Whenever we called we heard it is being worked on, it had this problem and it had the next problem. I mean, the Caves have gone over to the private sector now more than a year. What they have done, is they have looked after the transferring of the Caves to the Jamaican company called Chukka, but the staff part was all left behind up to this day,” he told Barbados TODAY.

He complained that some of the workers over the age of 60 had applied for pension “and have not got a red cent up to this point in time. All we are hearing, ‘it is being worked on, it is being worked on’.

“It has a lot of people who came over to the Caves of Barbados distressed,” the distraught former staff member lamented.

He said that Chukka, which took over the management of the national attraction from December 1, 2020 under a 25-year lease arrangement, did not rehire most of those over age 60.

“All of the staff over 60, they discarded. They discarded, yes. They paid us out [severance] because they wanted to get rid of us. But we were able to apply for pension once you are over 60, which up to this day has borne no fruit whatsoever,” the disgruntled ex-employee complained.

However, chairman of Caves of Barbados Ralph Thorne, Q.C. sought to make it clear that the local company was more focused on making sure the pension payout was correct rather than on how fast the money could be handed out.

“In the interest of the former employees, we are focused on accuracy and not on haste,” Thorne told Barbados TODAY via WhatsApp.

He also stated that there was nothing underhand about how their pension issue was being addressed.

“There has been no action that has been deliberately dilatory with respect to resolving the issue of pensions. The process will move forward further as soon as the actuarial work is completed,” the senior attorney stated.

The Caves of Barbados chair also reminded the former employees of the company’s track record in dealing with their severance payments.

“Just as we made good on the severance pay entitlements for all of our former employees, the pension payments shall be activated as soon as possible. These administrative interventions are necessary and the candidates should be assured that there is nothing sinister attending this matter,” Thorne assured.

In June this year, the new operators of Barbados’ renowned attraction were ‘extremely’ optimistic about future prospects for the St Thomas location as they prepared to roll out the highly-anticipated $9 million upgrades.

Group Chief Executive Officer of Chukka Caribbean Adventures Marc Melville had said work would begin in August and should last between six to eight months.

With a new logo, the new-look Harrison’s Cave Eco-Adventure Park is to consist of several exciting features including a challenge course, a free fall platform, a children play area, a suspension bridge, cuisine tour, bird aviary, a dry slide, an interactive green monkey experience, a canopy zipline, an infinity pool, among other attractions.

Close to 30 of the former Caves of Barbados employees have already been rehired as part of the “start-up team”.

The operators said the employment numbers are expected to reach close to 100 when the upgrades are completed and the operation is in full swing.
(emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb)