SSA appeals for end to foul behaviour towards workers

Management of the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) is appealing to the public to stop harassing workers and be more cooperative as they clean up garbage across the island.

On Thursday, public relations officer at the SSA Carl Alf Padmore told Barbados TODAY that in recent weeks, some of the Authority’s workers, especially those assigned to certain St Michael and Christ Church districts, were being harassed and even attacked by residents.

“Management is concerned about the constant harassment on the road with our loaders and drivers. We’ve had cases where the loaders would have refused to go into some areas, especially in St Michael and Christ Church areas, because they are being threatened,” he said.

“Often this is a result of people having vehicles parked on both sides of the roads and the guys can’t get through. When they ask them to remove them, they’re always faced with insults, curse words and even one or two of our guys were struck by some of these fellows with both hands and objects, and we’ve had to report these matters to the police.

“An incident happened a couple weeks ago and insults happened up to today and it has come to a point now where we have to speak up about it. Up to today, our operations manager had to go into an area with a supervisor to ask some residents to be more cooperative,” the SSA spokesman added.

Padmore lamented that the abuse was impacting the employees’ ability to do their jobs.

“We want the public to understand that these are essential workers and they have an important role to play. We know people from time to time look down on these workers but if you look at it in the scheme of things, we are really on the frontlines of health. So, we are just appealing for a little more respect.

“We know that sometimes our trucks can come early in the morning but if you park your vehicle on the road you must be mindful that the truck needs to pass to allow the workers to carry out their duties, and what makes the situation worse is when both sides of the road are blocked.

“We know the roads in some districts are narrow but we just need some cooperation. The guys have taken the position that if they continue to be threatened they would not service the areas unless the police goes with them, but we should not have to reach that stage,” Padmore said. (SZB)